The Queen, the monster and the child
by metaladdict
Summary: This is the story of Vicky Blunt. The heir to a history of death and torture. Will she find the strength to become something better than her family? Or will she become something worse?
1. Chapter 0: prologue

**AN:**

 **Hello, this is my first fan fiction ever. English isn't my native language so it's entirely possible this will have horrible spelling mistakes. That doesn't change the fact I am aiming high for this fan fiction.**

 **I do not own anything.**

Prologue:

He had to give credit to House, he had spread his chips well. Unfortunately for him he had his own connections. Benny lighted the cigarette in his mouth, and took a drag. It had cost him a good 10.000 caps to bribe the Mojave express administrator but even he couldn't tell him which courier was carrying what.

It didn't help that Mojave express were by default were tough as nails. That's why he was currently surrounded by 44 Great Khans that smelled like the dump they called a home. For all the love he had for his people, the chairman, he knew that they wouldn't turn on House. No he needed be in control of Vegas already before they accepted the idea of the chairman running Vegas.

"When is this fucking courier coming, "mister Vegas", Jessup complained with foul tone. He didn't blame him for it. The Khans had underestimated the couriers strength after the first two had gone down quite easy. The Khans assumed every single one of them would be as easy. He had to admit he had started to think the same.

"When he arrives Jessup, you don't get paid until the job is complete. remember that." Jessup glared at him but kept his mouth shut. His tribe needed the money, only selling drugs wasn't enough to feed the tribe as big as the Khans. He took another drag from his cigarette. Courier 3 and 4 both took down 1Khan each. Number 5 took down another 4 before being overwhelmed . He wondered how many courier 6 would take down. It pissed him off that he had to kill every single one of the couriers, if he had gone directly for the last one on the list he would be done and he could get back to civilization.

He sighed, leaving witnesses wasn't an option, not if he wanted live long enough to take over. The Khans would go back to their dump they called a home and that would be the end of that. But the couriers were a too big unknown. They could report back to House, telling they all got ambushed by a guy in a suit and a big group of Khans. It wouldn't take much for house to realize that it was him.

He and the rest of the Khans were waiting on top of a hill near Goodsprings. Waiting for the last courier to pass the road. Everyone was getting irritated by all the waiting but his sources had promised him that the courier would go past this road.

"Hey I think I see the courier." One of the Khans called out. He smiled finally he would get one step further to becoming the ruler of Vegas. The Khans got in position to surround the courier. He waited in the middle of the road with Jessup and couple of other Khans. As the courier got closer he could make out more of ...her appearance. He raised his eyebrow. It wasn't unheard of woman working as couriers but...it took a special kind of woman to do courier work. She had gold blond hair, just not touching her shoulders. If he had to guess he would say she had cut it herself. she wasn't particularly high 5'5 feet give or take. Her face had a couple of scars. One of those ran from above her eyebrow to the top of her right cheekbone. Another from her chin to her left cheek that disappeared in her hair line. But was the eyes that were really remarkable, a deep green he never had seen before.

"well well well, what have we here." She said with a typical accent from NCR citizens. She glanced around spotting the various Khans surrounding her. She didn't look worried for some reason, more curious really.

"About what? 40 Khans?." She looked over to him "and what you are supposed to be, their mighty leader."

"Not entirely miss, these fine gentleman work for me yes, but I'm hardly their leader." He stepped forward, Jessup following. "I am sure you are aware of what I want miss, if you would just hand it over we all could go home safe, no need to get hurt."

He was now that he took in her appearance. Underneath a trench coat she wore a set of green combat armor sprayed with red marks which he guessed to be blood. She was also wearing holsters which were strapped underneath her armpits but he couldn't see if it was for a gun or another weapon.

It didn't matter, the Khans would protect him so long they thought they were getting paid.

She snorted and motioned around her. "Please if the idea was getting no one hurt, you wouldn't have hired these has-been's ."

Jessup had his sawed-of shotgun out before he could blink. "Oh yeah bitch I'll show you who who's a has-been. The woman didn't even look worried.

"Oh please, look around you whoever the fuck you are. All these Khans with their fucking guns? My grand daddy used to tell me bedtime stories about Garl Death-Hand who almost brought down the NCR in its infancy."

She made a point of looking around her. "Now I only second rate raiders who need guns to robe people. " She said looking directly at Jessup. Benny glanced at Jessup who was absolutely red with anger. "Who the hell! Do you think you are to talk about us like that."

The woman casually brought her hands to her hips and said " Victoria Blunt".

The reactions were instantaneous. The Khans didn't holster their guns but they did lower them followed by talking among the Khans. Jessup anger was replaced with surprise.

"what does it matter who she is just fucking kill her already." Jessup turned towards with a glare that made him flinch. Then turned towards the woman. "Do you have any actual proof you're a Blunt?"

The woman gave a nod. "The official story is that my grandfather retired from the military. But the truth is he refused to finish the Khans of when he had the chance and that got him fired." Jessup gave a grunt of agreement. "True enough, but why would a NCR general have any sympathy with the Khans." Jessup asked with a hint of reluctance.

"Well isn't that obvious?" The woman took a step forward the Khans slightly raising their weapons in response."He was one." Jessup let out a long deep sigh, clearly not liking the answer. He looked over to a couple of the other Khans, some of them shaking their heads no. "Your grandfather never forgot his roots even when it cost him a lot." Jessup sighed deeply again. "but a job is a job so you need to die. Khans, we will not dishonor her grandfathers memory by shooting this woman, she will die worthy of a Khan." The Khans holstered their guns and proceeded to grab hand to hand weapons, clubs, pipes and knife's.

Jessup turned towards him "you will get your fucking chip but we will do it our way."

"I thank you for the fair fight, whatever your name is." The woman, Victoria he remembered, said. She proceeded to take out the trench coat and took out two police batons and hit them together.

"It's Jessup"

"Khans, attack!"

He sighed and accepted the fact this was going to take time. He started smoking a new cigarette.

The first Khan came from behind with a bat and tried to hit her in the left knee. She rolled forward before he could hit her and rolled over in front of two other Khans. The one on the right was slow and didn't have time to react before she head butted him in the face. The left one raised his machete but was blocked by one of the police batons. She used the other to hit him in the face and he fell down next to the first one.

She turned just in time to jump over the Khan that wanted to tackle her. She had barely landed before the next Khan tried to clobber her head in with a big piece of wood. She blocked him with both the batons but couldn't block the Khan from the side who did succeed in tackling her to the ground. She recovered quickly using his momentum to keep rolling so she was on top. She bashed his head in with the bottom part of one the baton. She only had time to hit him once before two Khans kicked her of him. She rolled up in a standing position.

"oh come on boys I'm not even sweating yet"

He took a drag from his cigarette. He spotted a rock he could sit on and took a seat, this would take a while. Might as well get comfortable.

Four Khans approached her now at the same time from all directions, they were careful for obvious reasons. They lunged at her at the same time with their weapons, 3 with a bat the and one with a machete. She threw one of the batons in the face of one right of her and blocked the one at the left, the one with machete. She followed up with head butting the Khan wielding it. While she was head butting the Khan the other two started hitting her in the back with the bats.

He took another drag of his cigarette. She was wearing combat armor and if it even was half assed maintained she wouldn't feel much of the impact.

She turned around still holding the Khan with the machete. The other two were in mid swing when she turned. And unlike the combat armor the Khan leather did not protect them from the impact.

The Khan fell to the ground and with Victoria wielding his machete. She immediately went for the bat wielding Khan on the left and cut of his swinging arm. He fell to the ground screaming while the rest of the Khans around rushed towards her.

By his count she had severely wounded or completely knocked out 4 Khans. Most people would have trouble with taking out just one of them. The Mojave express's reputation was apparently not without merit.

* * *

He was getting worried he might not have enough cigarettes for the way back. The courier had brought down the number from 44 Khans to 8 but it wasn't without cost. She had blood dripping from her head and she had multiple stab wounds at this point. He didn't know if all the Khans that were lying on the road were dead or not. Some were missing limbs, some he figured just got a really hard knock against the head.

She was barely standing but the amount of confidence she spoke with hadn't changed. "Come on Jessup, give up already!.

Fuck you Blunt" he took a couple of moments to gather his breath. "I am going to be the one who takes you down."

He took a couple of steps forward, which was impressive since he was pretty certain that she had broken one of his legs at one point in this whole mess that was supposed to be an easy hit and run. But one of his comrades got to her first and lunged at her with his fist. Which she expertly caught and twisted until she had broken Khan's arm and sent him to the ground.

He had enough. They courier currently had her back turned to him. He pulled out his gun switched the regular magazine with the armor piercing rounds.

He pointed towards the courier and unloaded his magazine. The first round hit her in the right shoulder. She fell to the ground and he continued firing and walking towards her. She pulled a gun out of nowhere and tried pointing it towards him, but he was already too close and kicked it out of her hand. "I must give my complements miss, I did not expect the you take out this many Khans." She glared at him she was coughing blood. They both knew she would be dead soon.

"I am sorry for this though, I prefer not to kill people, but circumstances require me too. any last words?" He asked pointing the gun at her head, no need to make her suffer.

She tried to speak but she coughed up some blood. started to speak again with a almost relieved tone. "Nothing really, just make it quick." He aimed his gun at her head.

He pulled the trigger.

"Click"

He looked down at her slightly amused face. But that didn't matter as he simply switched his old magazine out of the gun and put back the regular bullets.

"Now I am sorry to say that the show is over."

Bang

He put the safety back on and looked at Jessup. Who was glaring at him with a new kind of hatred. "We could have handled her." Benny only raised his eyebrow at him. "We need to go, this little fight of yours has already has cost me too much time."

"We can't we have wounded" Jessup responded.

Benny sighed, "then leave 3, 4 of your guys here and get them to take care of them, I need to get back to Vegas." He glared at him, "fine but we need to stay at least an hour or so the fucking Blunt tired us all out." He nodded and Jessup went to work taking care of his people. He made a mental note to ask about the Blunt thing later.

But first he needed to find that chip.


	2. Chapter 1: The wounded

**AN: Our first look into Victoria or Vicky for short.**

Chapter 1: The wounded:

The first thing she felt as she woke up was the mind shattering headache. She didn't know where she was and she didn't have the energy to lift her eyelids. They had used Anesthetics, she realized. She thought someone had drugged and dragged her of, but then all the memories started flooding back.

The prick in the suit had shot her. She chided herself for being careless and turning her back to him. The Khans were not a complete known factor to her, but she had heard enough about them known what to expect. But the suit wasn't. She had dismissed him as wimpy suit that let his henchmen take care of everything.

And she was most definitely paying the price for that now. Her senses were slowly returning. She could hear someone cleaning? Moving things? She wasn't sure. She was in a bed that smelled like it hadn't been changed in decades but it was kind of comfy none the less. With her senses also came the pain from the multiple wounds the Khans inflicted, and the fucking bullet holes from the suit. She also could feel bandages around her body.

She tried to open her eyes again. However she only got a glimpse of the room she was in before she fell asleep again.

The next time she awoke she felt a lot better. The pain was still there, especially the headache, but less intense. Plus she could open her eyes this time. The first thing she saw was the face of a kind looking man. He had a lightly tanned skin a bald head and a big grey mustache.

"well hello there, I was starting to get worried that you might not awake up ever again". The voice sounded as kind as his appearances looked.

"Hi" not liking her current position she tried to get up but was met with an instantaneous pain in her whole body and the soft but stern hand of the man pushing her back into a lying position. "You better stay down there miss, you're lucky to be alive, if you got to me much later I would be digging a grave". She knew from the hand resting on her shoulder that it wasn't a suggestion. She sighed.

"Yeah, thanks uhm..."

"Doc Mitchell"

"Yeah, thanks Doc"

"I'm Vicky " she stuck her hand out of the covers trying her best to ignore the pain. He gently took her hand and shook it. "I'm happy to help miss, if you're up for it I have some soup I can warm up for you".

"That would be wonderful thanks"

The moment the doc went out of the room she went into a sitting position on the bed and put the cushion behind her back. She only noticed then besides the bandages and her underwear she was completely naked. It did make sense that he couldn't bandage her wounds around her chest and back with her bra on. But it did make her feel uneasy. She looked around for anything she could possibly use as a weapon, but couldn't locate anything of significance.

The doc came back in the room a couple of minutes later, she used the blanket to cover herself but her unease was probably all over her face. "I'm sorry for the lack of clothing I couldn't bandage it without removing your bra, I tried not to look" he said with an apologetic tone.

"I understand, I'm just wondering where my clothes are and you know the rest of my stuff".

"I put them in the drawer next to you, however I need to change the bandages soon, so I wouldn't recommend putting them on straight away".

She let out a disappointed sigh but nodded.

He left and came back with a bowl of soup not soon after. He asked her if she needed any help with eating but she declined.

"So Doc, where are anyway", she asked after her first sip.

He looked confused for a second before responding "Oh sorry miss, I completely forget, you're in Goodsprings. It isn't anything special but it's home".

"Where's home for you miss?"

She shrugged, which make her wince, luckily the bowl was placed the drawer not on her lap. "Home's where I set my camp down for the night Doc, but I grew up in Shady Sands if you're curious".

He nodded in understanding, "I lived that live for a while myself miss, but I got out of it before it killed me, but I would be a liar if didn't say I miss it once in awhile".

"Yeah, apparently I checked out one too late, thanks for the save Doc, if it weren't for you I would probably be dead by now".

"Well I can't take all the credit, miss, Victor was the one who carried you here"

She took another sip, "I should probably find and thank him then".

"You probably should" he agreed.

"But If you don't mind me asking me miss, but what actually happened to you? Victor didn't say anything other than you being attacked by some bandits".

She raised her eyebrow at calling Khans bandits. Oh sure, they would raid a caravan every once in a while but they were just like any tribe from the old days as granddad described it, people just trying to survive their one way. She always referred to them as a tribe, never as lowly as bandits.

But the suit was something else. The Khans wouldn't go after a specific courier especially so far from their home. No, the suit had hired them, that was obvious. But why? The only thing she was carrying besides her own stuff was the casino chip. Granted the chip looked be made of some kind of metal and she figured some kind of insane rich collector wanted it for his collection. But to hire at least 40 Khans to get a collector's item was insane. Add to that, that they knew her exact route which she always took when going to Vegas.

It was a setup that was obvious but why make all that effort?

She considered not going after the suit. He obviously had money to hire a lot of protection. But not going after him meant that she would not discover who the fuck ratted out on her route. She couldn't work with the Mojave Express if she didn't find the traitor. She couldn't trust that the rat wouldn't try and eliminate her and she was dammed if she would quit. She liked this job, open air, meeting new people and no worries besides the local idiotic bandit's who thought they could take out a Mojave Express courier. Besides she needed this job as a cover to reach her target so quitting was out of the question.

She shook her head. Realizing she hadn't answered the Doc yet. "Yeah Doc, that's the sum of it. When I didn't go down without a fight they just shot me, sore losers I guess". She finished her meal and the Doc suggest chancing her bandages before he let her get dressed and look what was left of her stuff.

The Doc was talking while he was replacing her bandages, he was a gentleman about it not peaking a single time. "Now I'm sure that you would love to get back in your own clothes but the armor you were wearing and everything underneath was a mess. I don't know if the armor is salvageable but the clothes were soaked in blood. Your clothes are in the top drawer but I put some of my wife's old cloth's in the middle drawer ".

She thanked him again and he left her alone so she could change. She open the drawer and saw that Doc wasn't kidding. Her old but trusted set of combat armor was riddled with stab wounds at the weaker parts around the arms and legs. The shoulders blades were already missing and the front part of the armor was like Swiss cheese.

The Doc was right. The armor was falling apart, and if she was honest that was before this whole mess with the Khans. At this point the armor would only slow her down instead of actually being useful protecting. She put the armor aside she could probably get a couple of caps for the metal on the armor. The next she pulled out of the drawer were her holster.

In the early days of Benedict's Hold there was a boy- man of the tribe, who had noticed that carrying 3 weapons had to be annoying. It added weight to your belt and lowered your ways of movement. Therefore he had hunted down a Deathclaw and used it's skin for the new holsters she now had.

She always thought that the crush the boy had on her was cute. It wasn't long after that she quit using guns altogether but she still cherished the gift.

Nowadays only time her weapons were out of their holsters were when she was using them. Her grandfather's gun a ,10 mm, which he received for his 20 year anniversary in the NCR army with the words ' _For proud service and sacrifice'_ engraved into them _._ which was the only weapon residing in her holster.

It felt wrong not having three weapons in those holsters.

She had only thrown one of her batons in the face of a Khan, so that she could reach for a machete. Slapping those bastards down to the fucking ground had no effect at all, especially when they were getting up way too fast. However she never planned on abandoning her weapons after that fight.

She would've been fine with other opponents or not as much Khans. She'd hit them with her batons until they gave up. However Khans were different and as her grandfather used to say " They are tough SOBS" . And boy he was right, the first 3 or so whom she had hit had gotten up quicker than expected. Only one particularly stubborn bastard had gotten up after losing a limb.

She was fine with people trying to kill her. She wasn't fine with people stealing her stuff. She had to resist the urge to run out of the door and go looking for them immediately. She needed to calm down and find the bastards who stole her fucking batons.

But first things first.

She looked through the drawer the rest of the clothes were indeed soaked with blood. She went for the middle drawer were she found some undergarments and to her surprise a vault jump suit. Those things were getting rarer by the day. She put on the bra, that was a little too big for her. The straps hurt on her shoulders but she didn't feel like running around without a bra.

It was a pain to put on the jump suit with her all her wounds. The Doc even yelled, from what she guessed was the living room, if she needed any help. He even said that if she was uncomfortable he would go and ask in the village for someone. She declined on both accounts.

When she was done it felt strange. The suit was well fitting , better then the bra at least. She couldn't put her finger on it but it itched her the wrong way. First things first when she got to civilization, new clothes.

She made her way to the living room where she found the Doc reading a book. He put the book down when she entered and motioned for her to sit. She hated to admit but she felt relieved when she sat down. Her legs didn't take the worst of the beating, but they were still they still hurt .

"I am sure you're still hungry, my kitchen skills were never as good as my wife and after she passed away, well I started to eat most of my meals at the Prospector's Saloon"

She shrugged, which still hurt like a bitch, "I don't know Doc, the last time I cooked anything besides something out of a can people died. You can't be that bad'

He let out a chuckle. "I'll be sure to remember that miss. But Trudy is serving dinner in an hour or so, so I thought we might discuss our current predicament in the meantime".

"Predicament?"

The Doc's face twisted from soft constant smile with warmth behind those eyes into a sour looking grape. "To save you I needed to use quite a lot of medicine, not including the painkillers you need to take later. I was happy to do so, don't get me wrong but the fact remains, someone is going to need pay for them"

She nodded in understanding. Caps didn't grow on trees after all. And like she expected they took her bag of caps.

"You mind if we discus it after dinner Doc a bullet in the head is a big source of pain and suffering and that isn't including the bills'

"But thanks again" he nodded in understanding. She sunk into the couch, she needed to gather her thoughts and make sense of what the fuck happened.

"Uhm miss", she groaned but looked up away. "I was wondering , aren't you curious on you how survived a bullet in the head".

She shruged at the question. "Not really, no. When lady fortune pays you a visit you don't stop to ask question, doc."

He nodded, "that she did indeed, visited you I mean . The bullet was partly logged in your brain, I am frankly amazed you're alive, let alone walking and talking." She nodded in agreement. The worst she had was a head splitting headache. Which was a small price to for a bullet in the head.


	3. Chapter 2: Opportunity

After an hour or so of small talk she and the doc finally made their way to the saloon. Her first impression of Goodsprings was that it was a dump in the middle of nowhere. The Doc pointed out the saloon and the general store, which confirmed that indeed the village was a dump. Frankly she was unbelievably lucky that this village had a doctor at all. Most doctors in her experience always made their way to the bigger villages along the roads for the simple fact that the paycheck was better.

As they made their way over to the saloon she saw something she never expected to see outside of Vegas.

"And that over there would be Victor"

Victor was in fact a bloody securitron. Her alarm bells were ringing now. She never had been in the actual Vegas, but she knew there were a lot more than just the couple outside of Freeside. There was absolutely no reason for a securitron to be anywhere near Goodsprings.

"Well howdy partners, how you all doing today"

Apparently a securitron cowboy with a image of a man with a hat and a cigarette to boot. His voice also had a cowboy accent too it. For the rest it looked like any other securitron. It had big blocky shoulders made of metal, it's body made of the same with a big screen on it along with some buttons. His arms were also made of metal but instead of being blocky like his shoulders there were round and could move to a certain degree. At the end of his arm were his "hands" which were more 3 claws connected to some kind of metal contraption and then continued to his arms.

"we're fine Victor, thanks for asking". The Doc responded like it wasn't strange for a securitron to be hanging around in the middle of nowhere.

"Well wouldn't you be looking fit as a fiddle, I was mighty fine sure you would swimming with the fishes when I dragged you away from those rascals young lady"

It took her a second to realize it was talking to her. "Yeah...uhm...thanks for rescuing me...Viktor".

"Oh now don't you be worrying about that young lady, you were kicking them so might fine, I didn't think ya needed my help".

"Not until that one in the shinny boots shot you in the back like a coward."

"So you were watching the whole freaking time." she almost as a growled.

"Now now there young lady, I might be made of some might fine stuff. But I ain't had a chance against those rascals."

She narrowed her eyes looking at the securitron. She didn't specifically know what a securitron could do, she wasn't stupid enough to a pick a fight with one. But she knew they were tough. Tough enough to give the NCR pause. Or made to believe so if one was scared for a couple of Khans.

She huffed reminding herself that she was wounded and probably couldn't take a securitron down, even if they weren't as strong as everyone thought they were. No, she needed to just get the best of the situation.

"Viktor, did you by any chance see where they went before you saved me."

"Yes, I did young lady, there heading down the road, the direction you came from".

"I see, thanks again Viktor."

"My pleasure young lady, you wanna go after those rascals I reckon". She could have mistaken it, but Viktor sounded almost pleased with the assumption.

"That's the plan Viktor". She finished. She and the Doc made their way inside the saloon. They were greeted by the saloon owner, Trudy, who look at her like she wanted to finish the work the suit started.

While having dinner she asked the Doc about Viktor. Apparently the thing has been here over 15 years and counting. And before her, hadn't helped anyone. Frankly she didn't know what to think about Viktor. It just didn't fit.

After they finished their meals and she realized that she didn't have any caps again the Doc had to pay for her bill.

"So, Doc, how do you want to fix this debt I'm seem to be building with you? "

"Well, there are a lot of chores to do around her miss, some carpentering, a little farming and some hunting. And after that if you still feel up to it you can go after the ones that shot you".

She nodded, not meaning it. If she wanted to catch up with the Khans and the suit she needed to leave as fast as possible. She already spent 3 days recovering, and the chance of catching up with the suit and the Khans were becoming slimmer every day. Add to that she would need supplies and supplies cost caps. In all likely hood she would need to raid the general store get what she need and run for the hills. She didn't like it but she would find a way to pay the village back later.

"We'll keep that in mind. Now, if you're not going to buy something, get out!"

She had been too deep in thought to notice the new visitor. Who apparently had made Trudy angry. Said visitor was wearing a bullet proof vest, with some kind of abbreviation on it, and if she was not mistaken a prisoner uniform.

"Fine woman, be that way, but if Ringo isn't in front of the saloon tomorrow morning we will burn down the whole town!"

The man ran out. And Trudy kept her gaze fixed in towards the door.

She fixed her gaze on the Doc and motioned to the door with her head. "You want to tell me what's that's all about?"

The Doc sighed. "They call themselves powder gangers. They've been harassing the town ever since we helped out this trader that escaped their raid on his caravan."

Jackpot.

"Hey Doc, how about a deal ". He raised his eyebrow but motioned for her to continue. "If I deal with these powder gangers, the debt is paid in full and I'll get an additional 2 stimpacks".

His face turned from surprise, disapproval and a little bit of nostalgia in a couple of seconds. "I don't know miss. First of your still hurt, secondly while taking out all those powder gangers certainly would cover the meal and medical expenses I don't know about the two extra stimpacks. And thirdly how do you think to manage a whole gang". He said with disbelieve in his voice.

That's for me to know Doc. "Let me worry about that Doc, now do we have a deal?".

He looked to be struggling with himself for a couple of seconds, before finally nodding his consent.

"Now, do you have any suggestion on where to find help to deal with these wannabe gangsters?"

* * *

She told the Doc not to bother waiting up for her, she would be keeping watch most of the night with Sunny. Who actually immediately agreed to help her take care of the powder gangers, she even gave her a varmant rifle. It wasn't in the best of state, but she could probably shoot down the hole gang depending on their numbers.

But probably wasn't a guarantee.

So that's why she was making her way to the abandoned gas station to see Ringo. It wasn't hard getting his location, she literally only had to ask. She shook her head at the thought of anyone putting their life's in those people's hands. Still Trudy was useful, she had asked about the Khans and the suit and learned they were going to Vegas. She had guessed the suit was from Vegas already, but confirmation was always welcome.

She approached the gas station, and as expected, it was a dumb. Empty pumping station and broken glass all over the place. And apparently Ringo didn't think people would find it strange that there were lights coming from an abandoned building.

She considered going inside directly, but the guy could be jumpy and there wasn't a need to make him even more nervous. So she slammed her fist a couple of times against the door and waited.

"Who's there"

"We haven't met yet, I'm Vicky, I heard you had problems with Joe Cobb".

She heard some rustling inside before the door opened. Ringo was standing in the doorway with a six shooter aimed at her. "Hello" she greeted.

"Hello ma'am".

They stared each other for a couple of seconds. "So, you going to invite a girl in or not".

He chuckled and motioned for her to come inside. She moved inside and gave the gas station a good look around. Most of the shelves had either fallen down or were in a state of decay. There wasn't much left on the shelves that were intact. Ringo had a fire going behind the counter, which was currently cooking some kind of meat.

"So, what's your deal with the powder gangers ma'am? "

"Oh nothing much, I have debts to settle with the doctor of the town for patching me up."

"So what, you figured dealing with a couple of escaped criminals would be easy as that then?"

She shrugged. "My plan is to snipe them before they can get into range to do any damage, from what I've gathered Cobb always comes from the same direction".

He nodded, "that sounds like a good plan, but if what if you can't hit them or if they get too close?".

"That's where you and that gun of yours come in. I'm pretty sure we can cut down their numbers, but we still have to know, how many of them there are and what kind of gear they have".

He grabbed his chin, thinking for a couple of seconds before responding. "I think there were about five to seven left when I ran, at least if Cobb didn't get backup from the prison".

Those were good numbers, if Sunny was even a half decent shot they could probably kill them all before they were halfway to the town.

"What kind weapons were they carrying and were they wearing anything besides bullet proof vests?".

He looked unsure when answering this time "Uhm I'm not sure, I believe I they had shotguns, maybe some pistols but I can't be sure".

"Okay, so far as I can tell we gave a pretty good chance with dealing with these guys. If you could get to the saloon with everything you have and then we can wait for these guys to show up".

She talked to Ringo a couple of more minutes while he gathered his stuff. He asked her if she had every had played caravan and if not he could teach her to pass the time. Which she declined since she had second or third watch to night, and she needed to get her rest for the fight and the hunt for suit and the Khans.

On her way to the general store she past bay Viktor, who questioned her on when she was leaving. It made her even more suspicious on what it wanted of her. She knew from the Doc that Viktor previous owner had programmed him for some unknown purpose. She had the suspicion that somehow mister House had something to do with it, but why would he of all people be interested in some over expensive collector item? The other answer was that someone else was controlling Viktor but who would be smart enough to do that? When she confronted it, it denied any ulterior motive, which she guessed was his programming.

The simple and easy courier job was getting weirder by the second.

She shook the thoughts out of her head. She arrived at the general store and needed to focus on getting as much as an edge on those convicts as possible.

She entered the store which she was surprised to see was actually kind of neat. Behind the counter was man who she guess was Chet. Trudy had warned her that he would a bitch to convince to help the town. She walked up to the counter "Welcome to Goodsprings general store how can I help you today?".

"Hi, I'm Vicky, I agreed to take down the powder gangers"

Chet face immediately became sour, "now listen, I told Sunny once already that I would be happy to sell anything she needed but I am not going to give away my goods, I'll go broke If I do"

She sighed, why couldn't people just do the right thing and help their neighbor? "Now Listen Chet, do you think the powder gangers will care about you going broke?". "They will probably just kill you and loot everything as they see fit".

"Well now, isn't it a good thing we have you and Sunny to protect us from those convicts, besides, I didn't vote to fight those convicts, I say we just hand over Ringo and be done with it"

Even before he was done with his sentence she reached over the counter and grabbed him by the shirt dragging him over the counter and right in her face. He grabbed a gun behind the counter but she grabbed his hand before he could point it at her. "Now listen her you weak excuse for a man, your job is to contribute to your community , if you do not contribute I'll make you , you understand!". she growled.

There was a moment of pure shock on Chet his face before he recovered with a nervous laugh- trying to shake off his earlier surprise of her actions. Much to her amazement he actually talked back to her "Now listen here, I don't know who you think you are, ...but if you think the town is going to accept you robbing the place...or, or killing me, you have other things coming".

She actually had a small laugh at the irony of his statement. "I am sure Chet, but how will they discover in time to do anything, it was already dark before I came in. I can just close the store and they will discover your body when I'm long gone". She didn't have any actual intention of killing the guy, he maybe a spineless weakling but killing someone just because he was weak and selfish wasn't a good reason in her book.

His face went pale and his shoulders slumped. "Fine, take whatever you want" he said defeated. She let him go and went around the counter to grab the varmant rifle weapon mods she saw, a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. She also grabbed some ammo for Sunny, Ringo and herself.

"Wait, that's all you taking?" She turned around to see his surprised face starting at her. She shrugged, she didn't really needed the cigarettes and lighter but the weapons mods would be a significant advantages in taking down the powder gangers. She considered taking the leather armor as well but frankly she didn't intent to robe the whole place, and she was confident she wouldn't need the protection. Besides she always felt weird in gecko or whatever that standard stuff was made of. No, it was either going to prober clothes, combat armor or her personal armor which was in storage. But there wasn't any combat in Good Springs and her personal armor was too dangerous to put on in anyway.

She left the store and walked the small distance to the saloon, where she found Ringo and Sunny talking. "I swear miss, living on the road, seeing a new place, meeting new people, making friends all over the world is about the greatest thing in the world". She took and a cigarette and lightened it.

Sunny didn't look convinced, "that maybe true, but you don't ever set any roots either. When was the last time you saw your family Ringo?".

Ringo shrugged, "most of my family's dead miss, I only I have a sister left and were not that close, we send each other letters once in a while but that's about it".

"Exactly you never build something up!". She had restrain herself from making any comments about building something up in Good springs. As far as she had seen everyone in this town was either married, or a window. And the only single men around was currently Ringo, who would probably leave the moment the powder gangers are dealt with, and Chet. And so far she could gather Sunny was more likely to shoot him then marry the guy.

"It isn't like you to build nothing at all miss Sunny, you make friends, build up contacts around the world". He glanced at her. "How about you miss, I've been told you're a courier surely you prefer the great outdoors?".

She took a deep drag of her cigarette, taking a moment to think it over. "I really enjoy the courier work, meeting people and all". She didn't mention the original reason she took the job was to hunt down the person who had ruined her life. And that she wouldn't have traded that life for anything.

"I'm going to take the couch inside the saloon wake me up for the second watch".

 **AN:**

 **It always bothered me how little the courier knows of the Mojave, so that's one of the things I am trying to address.**

 **This is the chapter where we start to see what kind of morals and principals Vicky has. I am going to do my best to establish everything Vicky holds dear up to New Vegas.**

 **Reviews are always welcome and have a nice day.**


	4. Chapter 3: Surprise!

**AN:** **Here is the fight between Vicky and the gangers.**

She didn't know how long she was asleep when someone shook her awake. Her reaction was to point her gun in the general direction of the hand shaking her. What was unnecessary, she realized after she saw it was Trudy.

Trudy had a startled expression on her face for a couple of seconds that quickly changed to annoyed. "You know if I wanted people pointing guns at me I would've become a caravan guard, not a bartender", she said with an annoyed tone.

She gave Trudy a smile and lowered the gun and sat down on the couch. She felt pretty refreshed from the night's sleep. Which was a rare occurrence . "Sorry, I'm not used to being woken up by anyone."

"Yeah, no kidding." Trudy said with a annoyed tone. "Sunny told me to wake you, she spotted Cobb and his gang through her binoculars".

She gave Trudy a nod and grabbed her rifle and went outside, but not before grabbing a can of food. She opened it, and started eating while she went outside. She spotted Ringo outside, but not Sunny. "Rgo, wer Snny." Ringo gave her an annoyed look, but pointed up. She swallowed , thanked him and went up to the roof. She already talked everything over with Sunny yesterday and she was happy to see that Sunny was already in position.

"Good morning, Sunny." Sunny flinched around with her rifle pointed at her, which she lowered the moment she saw it was her. "Geez Vicky, could you be a little louder, I almost shot you".

She shrugged, "I can't help it. Trudy said you spotted them?".

"Yeah, eight guys, including Cobb". That was one more then Ringo had thought to have seen, but it shouldn't cause any problems. She laid down on the roof and prepared her rifle. She could see slightly future then Sunny because of her scope but it wouldn't change the effective range of the rifle.

"Yeah, I see them. RINGO THERE ARE EIGHT GUYS!" She yelled.

"GOT IT!", he yelled back.

She peered through the scope. Cobb was slowly making his way to Good Springs, apparently not expecting the people to resist him. If it wasn't for Ringo, Sunny and her the people here would surely have been fucked. But luckily for them and unluckily for Cobb they were here to make sure the NCR's fuck up wouldn't harm these people.

"It will take them about 1 minute to be in range." In the corner of her eye she could see Sunny give a nod. She was concentrating as well. She glanced towards the ground where she saw Ringo covering behind a wooden crate. She didn't know how well the both of them would handle a real fight. Ringo hadn't ever shot his gun before Cobb and his gang attacked him. And Sunny hadn't shot anything deadlier then gecko's but she didn't really have luxury of being picky.

Cobb and his gang were almost in range when she heard something behind her. She didn't hesitate a second and turned around into a sitting positioning. She immediately spotted 3 powder gangers almost atop of the of the roof. She shot the one on the left who was already pointing a gun at her. The other two immediately went down again. But she could still see their hands holding on to the top of the roof. She shot the far right hand first, which was followed by the far left one.

She heard them fall on the ground. She directed herself towards Sunny "KEEP SHOOTING THAT GROUP THIS ONE"S MINE!" She didn't wait for Sunny to reply. Instead she ran to the edge the powder gangers just fell off. She broke in a slide just for the end of the roof , as she slide off the roof she grabbed the edge . Which changed her directory straight down into the group of powder gangers, who still look amazed by the fact of their dead and wounded friends. She landed atop of one of the gangers she had shot in the hand.

The gangers still looked like they didn't know what was happening when she fired of a shot in the middle of their group with the rifle, but immediately after they all raised their guns. But she was quicker. She grabbed her 10 mm with her left hand and leapt towards the guy she had shot. she already rolled onto the guys body when the bullets started flying. her right hand went for her baton but then only then realized it wasn't there anymore.

As she did that, the group stopped shooting and turned towards her. She shot the two left and right from her, and then grabbed the guy right of her using him as a meat shield for the guys that started shooting her from her right. While they were wasting bullets on their dead friend she started emptying her clip on their friends on the left.

She shot the first one in the head. The second almost had his gun pointed at her but his friend head exploded in a bloody mess which made him flinch away. Seeing as the second one was too busy being a pansy she went for the third of her left instead. He wasn't as softhearted as his friend and didn't stop aiming at her. He shot of one round before she shot him in eye. The second one was finally recovering from his little trip of being a pansy and finally started shooting at her. But he didn't get more than one shot off either.

She looked over the bullet ridden corpse she was carrying to see the group on the right was out of bullets as well. She holstered her own gun and dropped the corpse but not before grabbing said corpse his gun. She quickly emptied it on the reloading gangers. When she shot the first one the others panicked and tried to run away. She didn't stop shooting. When they were dead the only people left were the two she had shot of the roof. Both had retreated back against the wall looking like they had shit themselves. She pointed her guns towards them and considered her options.

The villagers would probably not have the guts to make a decision about them if they lived. In all likely hood they would send them to the NCR. She didn't know what these two had done, but she doubted they would get anything except a firing line for the prison riot. This made her decision easy.

She pulled the trigger two times and just like that the group of gangers was dead.

The moment after she shot them she started coughing. The coughing was so hard it brought her to her knees. She checked her hands and saw she had coughed up blood. She took a long deep breath and stood up. She shook her head. She still felt the pain in her chest but it didn't feel like her body was any weaker. She shook her head again. There were way more important things going on than her health. Even if she wanted to take the time to rest she couldn't.

She checked her ammo and wasn't surprised that she only had 1 bullet left. She dumped the six shooter and reloaded her 10 mm. Right as she popped in the clip she heard a explosion coming from the front of the building.

"Fuck" she cursed. She quickly searched the powder gangers for something useful and found a staff of dynamite. She ran towards the front but stopped just before turning the corner.

"come on Ringo! If you give yourself up we won't fuck with anyone else!"

"Like anyone would believe any of that bullshit Cobb!" Ringo responded in kind, but his voice sounded weak.

She took a quick glance around the corner and spotted about 6 guys left of the 8. They were spread out over the sand birch just before the saloon. Unfortunately they were too spread out over the birch to catch with the one staff of dynamite.

Ringo was behind another crate, the previous one being blown up by the dynamite. She could see that Ringo was hurt but not to what extent. The gangers were pointing their gun towards the roof, which was probably the only reason they were still alive. Even a novice would be able to shoot them which such a clear shot.

She needed them to jump out of their hiding spot, but they probably expected Ringo to be attacked from the flank any second now. Which meant they had no reasons to move.

"If that's the way you want to play it Ringo, you will get it!".

They started firing again both towards Ringo and Sunny on the roof. Cobb was smarter then she had giving him credit for. Laying down covering fire, while his guys flanked the enemy. Even if the shotguns would do jack and shit on this range it still had the effect of keeping the enemy pinned down.

She saw the powder ganger furthest from Cobb prepare another staff of dynamite. This was her change to turn the tide. There was no way for her to run at them and kill them before she was shot to shit by those shotguns. She lined up her rifle which she had retrieved with the dynamite. She took a deep calming breath and crouched down on one knee. She wasn't a sniper but her grandmother made sure she knew the basics.

Just as he was about to throw the dynamite she fired and hit the stick of dynamite. It exploded in a glorious boom that killed the guy throwing it and next the guy to and stunning the rest. She quickly put her rifle down and lighted her own dynamite and threw it into the direction of Cobb.

"SUNNY! IT"S CLEAR START SHOOTING!"She shouted.

Sunny didn't start shooting immediately, but she was quick enough start firing. Two of the powder gangers ran straight out of the birch and were quickly shot down by the combined fire from Sunny, Ringo and herself. Then her staff off dynamite exploded taking out the rest of the gang.

When all was said and done, all of the powder gangers were a bloody mess. She leant back against the saloon, trying not to faint because of the pain shooting through her body. She quickly took one of the pain killers and made her way to Ringo who looked as bad as she felt.

There was a big open wound by his leg and he didn't seem to be breathing properly. "So, will I still be pretty after this one?". Ringo asked. She gave a small smile but didn't answer. Ringo would be lucky to live, let alone walk. Sunny had came off the roof . She indicated to Sunny to help her carry Ringo. Sunny didn't move, only after calling her name again did she move. The both took one arm over their shoulders and started making their way to the Doc.

By the time they were halfway towards the Doc Sunny asked her "Will he be okay?" She gave a shrug as good as she could with carrying Ringo. "I've seen people die of much worse and live Sunny." Although they did have a nice big supply of stimpacks available at the time. But telling Sunny that wouldn't help anyone.

"How did Cobb's guys behind us anyway" she asked Sunny. Sunny looked just as confused as felt about the matter. "The only thing behind us were mountains and hills. So they must have climbed over them to reach us. It isn't a hard clime or anything, maybe some wildlife, but nothing serious".

"Didn't I tell you to watch out for that Sunny?". Sunny looked guilty but didn't respond to her question. She just gave a grunt. No use in preaching it to Sunny now.

When they reached the Doc she gave the door a good knock. The doc was there within seconds. They carried Ringo into his house, onto the cot she had previously had woken up. The doc didn't waste any time and started working on ringo immediately. "anything we can do doc?", she asked.

"No", he responded and went back to work. "If we can do anything just yell doc". The doc didn't respond as she made her way to the living room. She didn't wait for Sunny to follow her, but she heard her follow soon after. When she sat down her let out a deep breath she didn't know she was holding. Her whole body hurt from fighting the gangers. Normally she could've done this ten times without breaking a sweat. She should have just raided the store and left the village to fend for its own, but no she had to pay her freaking debt to the Doc.

She took another calming breath and glanced at Sunny. Sunny was sitting at the other end of the sofa, looking worried.

She took another painkillers the doc had given her and light up a sigaret. Being handicapped as she was now she would need to fight smart, not hard. Fortunately for her there shouldn't be that much resistance from her to New Vegas. She usually went to Vegas through Sloan for the extra pay check for delivering letters to camp McCarren. However she could gain some possible Intel by going past Primm. Nash wouldn't know much about the job, but he would know more than her. Add to that the supplies she could get at Mojave Outpost and the possible caravan she could travel with to Vegas and it was a easy choice. Besides there was a chance she could catch up with the suit before he reached his home turf.

"Do you think Ringo will be okay?", Sunny quietly asked. She looked over to Sunny who looked deathly pale. "First time seeing someone wounded?" Sunny gave her nod. She took a drag from her sigaret. "like I've said, I've seen people survive worse, and the doc is first rate. Hell, he pulled a bullet out my skull and I'm still walking." Sunny looked a bit relieved, but still worried.

She thought about what she could say Sunny to make her not worry, but that was a lost cause most likely. She took another drag from her sigaret and figured it probably wouldn't hurt to do something productive in the meantime.

" I'm going to look through the bodies, best if you stay here, it's not going to pretty". Sunny gave her a thankful smile and nodded. She stood up, grateful for that the painkillers had kicked in. She made her way to the door, preparing to clean up some scorched bodies.

 **AN:**

 **Please review!**


	5. Chapter 4: Cleanup

"ugh"

She let out a deep sigh. She and a couple of villagers from Good Springs had been cleaning up the bodies from the fight. She had retrieved the rifle and her magazines. She also had looted fifteen revolvers, five shotguns, four staffs of dynamite with a long fuse and 274 caps. It was good amount of loot for 15 minutes of work. The only potential problem was selling the goods. At the very least she would keep the dynamite and two revolvers, but the rest would have to go. Meaning she would need to convince Chet to buy her stuff.

She looked over the bodies they had thrown together. One of the villagers had gone this house to bring some gasoline to burn the bodies. With a little bit of luck this would be the last fight she would have until she reached Vegas. She would need every bit of fire power depending on how well protected the suit was.

She bundled up all the weapons, and made her way to the general store. It was just as tidy as she remembered it being yesterday. Chet was already scowling towards her direction and had a gun laying out on the counter. She casually walked up to the counter, ignoring the fact had picked up the gun and was pointing it towards her. "What do you want?" Chet barked out. She just smiled and laid the bundle on the counter and rolled it out. "I bring gifts Chet, if you want them". Chet didn't respond but she could see he was interested. "You can have the shotguns as compensation for the stuff I took out you're store yesterday".

He looked surprised and despite his scowl she could see the interest in his eyes "And the rest?" , he asked.

"Well I would love to sell it too you actually". He looked at her like she just grew an extra head, but put the gun down anyway to check out the shotguns. "These shotguns hardly compensate for the things you stole from my store", he said with an annoyed tone. "True enough, but saving your store and shit for certain destruction more than makes up for it I would say. Besides the revolvers are much better condition and I'm going to give you a discount on those".

He laid down the shotguns and put them behind the counter and started inspecting the revolvers. "There in good condition I'll give you, and I could fetch a good price for them from one the traders that comes around here. So, as much I hate to say it, what do you want a piece?"

"I would say about 40 caps per piece". Normally she would start at 60 for these quality of guns, but Chet didn't seem like the type to forget something. But couldn't ignore a good deal when he saw one either.  
"Hell no, no way, their good but not that good, 15 caps per piece".

"35"

"20"

"30"

"25"

"Deal"

they shook hands. Before she went outside she bought a duffle bag, a couple of cans of food, a hat, a bullet belt for the revolver ammo and belt for two revolver holders . She put the bullet belt over her shoulders and let it rest under her arm on the other side. She put the caps in a separate bags and put those bags in the duffle bag. She put her rifle over her shoulder and made her way to the doc's.

She usually didn't carry around this much fire power, but she had a feeling that she was going to need it. She arrived at the doc's place and went inside. She put her bag and rifle on the ground. As she put down her stuff she noticed the mirror in the hallway. Her face was mostly the same. The scar by her eye and the one on her cheek. But she had a new one now, on her forehead between her eyes. The bullet wound was still healing, but for now she had a round mangled piece flesh on the middle of her forehead. Her natural black hair color was growing back as well. Which meant when she arrived in Primm she had to ask Ruby do dye her hair again. It was probably a good idea to change it to a light brown, instead of the gold color she had at the moment.

She made way into the living room where she found Sunny still sitting at the same spot she left her. She put her hand on Sunny shoulders which made her jump of the sofa. "Dammit Vicky, what the hell!? Can't you just walk up to someone like any normal person!" She led out a soft chuckle and sat down on the sofa. All while Sunny glared at her.

"ah miss Vicky you're back", she looked over her shoulders where she saw doc Mitchell standing with two steaming mugs in his hands. "Yeah, I helped clear the bodies, and already got my supplies for the road." He nodded in approval. "Ah that's good, you can't have bodies lying the in Mojave sun for too long, they start rotting within hours." The doc put down the mugs, one in front of Sunny who had taken her place on the sofa again, and the other in front of the lonesome chair. "Do you want a mug of tea as well miss Vicky?" She shook her head and the doc sat down in his chair.

"So, how is Ringo doing?".

"Pretty good, considering how big the splinters were I had to take out his leg and chest?" She smiled faintly at the news. She didn't know Ringo, but he seemed like okay guy."That's good, so doc does this fix the debt I owe?"

The doc took a drink of his tea before answering and nodded."I would say miss, a deal is a deal." She was relieved she wouldn't have to run off without paying her debt. While she was pretty sure being able to track down the suit wasn't time sensitive anymore, she wasn't sure how long he would hold on to her batons before giving them away, or worse find what was inside one of them.

She smiled at the doc. "That great doc." She pulled out two small bags of caps and threw them in Sunny's direction. "That's about 100 caps for both you and Ringo when he wakes up." She didn't wait for a response and made her way to the door. Her business in Good Springs was done and she wanted impale that fucking suit to a fucking wall. She would need to earn some caps on the way for the entree fee into Vegas and the arsenal she would possibly need to fight through the suit's lackey's. Which wasn't going to be an easy feat if they were all as tough as Khans.

She had just picked up the duffel bag when he the doc called out: "miss please wait for a moment". She turned towards the doc who, to her amazement, was carrying a pip-boy. "wow doc, if the powder gangers knew you had something expensive as that laying around they wouldn't have bothered with the rest of the town." He nodded in agreement and smiled faintly. "I wanted to give you this miss Vicky". For a moment she was stunt, before she shook herself out of it. "wow, doc thanks, but why give it to me? You've know me for maybe a day, maybe a day and a half?"

The doc only smiled faintly before answering the question. "My wife was the adventures type like yourself. Her pip-boy always made sure she would find her way back to me." The doc took a deep breath before continuing. "Before she got sick . In any case, she was buried with her pip-boy, which she probably didn't want, since it's useless now. That's why I want you to take mine, better to have this pip-boy be used then being buried with some dead guy who won't be using it anyway. Besides I have a feeling you still have people you care about, maybe this will help you find your way back to them with this."

She kept her face as emotionless as she could while the doc handed her pip-boy and instructed her on how it worked. The doc was right she had a place to return to. She just couldn't before she had her revenge.

"Thanks doc, for everything, I'll come and visit if I'm ever in the neighborhood."

She made her way out of the doc's house and out of Good Springs. Every time she looked over her shoulder she could still see the doc watching until she couldn't see his house anymore.

It was great to be on the road again and hunt something. Admittedly this was a hell of a lot simpler then hunting down Octavian, or Maverick or whatever his real name was. Octavian in comparison kept moving constantly for his legion related missions. Which meant she was always one step behind. As far as she knew there was only one man in the world who had up to date intelligence where Octavian was at any given point and he was untouchable. In comparison the suit was trivial. The idiot didn't even bother hiding the fact that he was from Vegas.

It took a 15 minutes before she reached the junction, which treated her to quite a sight. About 30 to 40 or so dead Khans laying around, with and without all their limbs. She couldn't help but be proud at her handy work. The Khans were tough as nails, but she was a Blunt. Even then fighting over 40 Khans and almost winning must be an achievement. Hell her great-great something grandfather, Seth Blunt, almost lost to Garl Death-Hand, the most badass Khan that ever lived, so this had to count for something.

She looked through the bodies looking if they had anything that might give her edge. She found two matches she put in the holders where she usually kept her batons, some caps and some ammo she could sell. But the strange thing she noticed was that some of the Khans had bullet holes in them. She didn't use a gun the whole fight which meant someone else had . And the suit wouldn't shoot his own bodyguards. From what she could gather all of the bullet holes were relatively close, which most likely meant machine guns. The only person she knew that was here, and most likely had a machine gun was Victor.

She wondered why it would bother with finishing off the wounded Khans, it wasn't like they were in a position to harm anyone at that point, let alone a securitron. Unless it had orders to leave no witnesses. She didn't see the suit's body so it was safe to say he had already left when Victor came rolling in. A securitron screamed House. She had dismissed the notion at first but only House was associated with securitron, meaning if someone else had send Victor he or she wouldn't have cared for witnesses. The suit had money, which meant he had to be from one the three families, which meant House as well.

What the hell was happing in New Vegas?

She shook her head. The truth was she didn't want to know what the hell was happening. She just wanted to get her stuff back, kill the suit and continue her hunt for Octavian. She didn't want to get involved in some power struggle that wouldn't help her get any closer to Octavian.

She walked over to the rock she remembered the suit sitting on. She found some bullet casings for 9mm armor penetrating rounds and some buds for over expensive cigarettes. It was a very slim chance she could practically use them, but her grandmother taught her not to waste anything you could use. Her grandfather called her a 'freaking hoarder', but she still thought it was good advice.

After making one last sweep off all the bodies she continued her travels. She had a lot to think about. She could possibly use the situation in Vegas to her advantage. She didn't know the power structure inside Vegas, the only thing she really knew was that House was on top. But if the suit was on House his bad side she could use that.

* * *

It took another good 2 hours of walking before she could see Primm. Her legs hurt like hell, she would really need to find a doctor who could treat her legs better. The two stimpacks she had were for emergencies. In any case she was looking forward to Ruby's casserole, after two months of canned food she would think anyone would look forward to something else.

As she was approaching she started noticing figures in the distance. She ducked into a trench, if these were raiders they were amateurs. She peered through her scope she actually surprised to see they were freaking NCR soldiers surrounding Primm. She knew the NCR was trying to convince Primm to let them protect the town. But Primm didn't need the protection because the simple truth was no one that actually knew the region was stupid enough to fuck with the Mojave express. Most people just accepted the simple fact attacking Primm was idiotic at best, suicidal at worst.

No, the NCR wasn't going to pick a fight with the Mojave express. First of all, they knew the express could shrew them more ways than one. Secondly every decent courier could take on at least a couple of NCR soldiers, and while the express had no way near enough people to actually fight the NCR they could make their lives hell.

Fuck it, she climbed out of the trench and made her way to the NCR camp. As she approached she saw some of the soldiers trailing her. She initially intended to walk right into town but the soldiers had blocked direct route into town, and directed her towards the ruins no one really used.

When she reached the ruins a private approached her. "Ma'am, I'm sorry for the inconvenience but Primm isn't available for visitors at this time."

"Why? She demanded at a dangerous tone.

The private looked taken aback by tone and seemed to be sputtering for a couple of moments before finally answering. "uh a couple of convicts took over the town, ma'am."

"You have to be fucking kidding me!"


	6. Chapter 5: Friend or foe?

**AN:  
** **So this is a point of no return. From the get go I told myself that I would change a couple of things. This chapter and the next will start showing those changes.**

She marched right past the private towards the command tent. Why in fucks name did the NCR have to leave everything to someone else? Some of the soldiers were giving her strange looks, but she just continued walking. She almost was in the tent before a sergeant stopped just before she was in the command tent. "Woo ho beautiful, I'm sorry but the lieutenant isn't seeing any civilians right now." He had his hand wrapped around her left arm and her left wrist to emphasizes his point

"I would watch out McGee, she looks like she could kill you with just her glare", another sergeant called out with a laugh. "yeah yea Bob just keep slacking off in silence if you will." She tried to wiggle her arm out of his stranglehold on her arm but he only added more pressure. "Now listen her miss I can kick the crap out of you, it will be a dam shame for your pretty face, but it doesn't change the fact that unauthorized personnel isn't allowed in the command tent."

She had a good snicker at the sergeant expense, who only kept his serious face on while she kept snickering. She still had a laugh in her voice when she responded. "Oh that is a good one I'll save you the blue eye sergeant, get one of your guys to tell your CO a courier from the Mojave Express has arrived." They kept staring at each other for a few moments before the sergeant called out to the private left from him. "Private inform the lieutenant that a courier arrived."

The private made a hasty retreat inside the tent. In the meantime she and the sergeant kept staring at each other waiting for the other to make the first move. She was lucky she was a right-handed person. If he kept holding her arm when she decked him she would probably need to keep rolling and be ready to block sergeant Bob from taking a swing at her, then she probably would need to duck and cover before the other soldiers started shooting.

Luckily for them both the private came back with the word from the lieutenant. "Uhm sir, the lieutenant wants to see the courier." She yanked her arm away from the sergeant who looked disappointed. "Thank you sergeant for the warm welcome." He just glared at her which she returned with a smile.

She entered the tent where she was met with the back of lieutenant uniform. "So lieutenant what's your plan to deal with the NCR's fuck up." The man turned around and gave her a annoyed look, Which she couldn't blame him for. Dealing with escaped convicts shouldn't be the military's job.

"You."

She raised her eyebrow."I'm sorry, what?."

"The NCR has been told that Primm would not consider the NCR's protection since they had you guys protecting them. So NCR high commander thought it would be more appropriate for you, a courier, to deal with Primm's problems instead of us, the NCR."

She to resist the urge to roll her eyes. The NCR was many things but charitable was not one of them. "If these scum were raiders I would agree, but the fact the remains there are prisoners took down all the guards Primm had, that included two former couriers and three former rangers."

The lieutenant flinched at the mention that the prisoners took down rangers.

"are you sure?." He asked with doubt in his voice. To which she nodded. They were arrogant pricks but it didn't change the fact that they were rangers. And it wasn't like they had quit because they were physically unable to stay on as rangers.

"Who's bright idea was it anyway to put those dangerous criminals a minimum security prison?"

He still sounded doubtful when he responded. "No, it couldn't have been the prisoners at the prison. The most dangerous prisoners in the jail were in for murder, and not one of them had military experience. That only exception was Cooke but he is a terrorist and doesn't have any kind of real military experience let alone combat skills."

She looked the lieutenant directly in the eye for any sign that he was lying, but found none. This would be a problem, if these guys really took out the town she had no chance in her current state, but she still needed to save the town no matter what.

She rubbed her temples to work away some of the headache she was still feeling. " I'll need a couple of your guys to fix this lieutenant." Even before she had finished her sentence the lieutenant was already shaking her head. "I can't, my superiors ordered me to stay put and let you guys take care of it. Besides even if I had permission I wouldn't feel comfortable sending in my guys against people who took down rangers."

She cursed under her breath for the lieutenant cowardice. But she could understand the sentiment NCR regulars weren't fit for fighting actual soldiers. "What ever happened to 'every soldier is a master of war' lieutenant." She asked not really expecting a response.

"Ha! If you want that bullshit you should head to Baja and ask general Blunt really nicely, maybe he will borrow you the ghoul squad. " She couldn't help but smile at the remark. Even though the relationship between the NCR and her family was...awkward, the NCR still respected her family. "but seriously I'm sorry but I can't help you until further notice, orders are orders."

The rest of her conversation with the lieutenant was mostly talking about the most dangerous prisoners in the prison. A guy named Samuel Cooke was the most likely suspect for the prison break. Personally she didn't buy that Cooke was the one that attacked Primm, Cooke was a terrorist sure, but not an expert fighter, it took a hell of a lot more then throwing dynamite at couriers and rangers to bring them down.

It was night when stepped out of the command tent. Going over all the likely suspect for being responsible for this had taking its fair share of time. She could easily say damn it all and continue to the Mojave outpost but Nash and Ruby were her friends and she didn't abandon her friends.

As she made her way out of the tent she couldn't believe was she was seeing. Multiple fires were burning in Primm, all behind wall's but still giving away their positions. She was baffled by the stupidity. It could be a trap of course, but anyone with a brain could figure out the NCR wasn't going to move a inch.

She took a deep breath. Okay, Vicky this is what you know: 1 somehow these guys were able to kill all the guards, 2 they are burning obvious fires that looks like an obvious trap. She stared at the fires for a while, thinking about possible angles of attack. But the biggest issue right now was the lack of information.

After fifteen minutes she decided that she would observe them in the day and attacked in the night. Going now would probably get her killed. Ruby and Nash would be fine for a at least a couple of days.

* * *

She woke up early from as she always did. The nightmares made sure of that. She spent the day observing the powder gangers and to say she was surprised was an understatement. The powder gangers never once came in clear sight of the NCR's soldiers. Always moving between buildings never giving anyone a chance to shoot anyone. Not that was needed anyway. Like any standard NCR soldier the soldiers were only equipped with a service rifle. The service rifle wasn't mean for snipping. Not like it would help much, since the standard NCR soldiers didn't know how to properly use a sniper rifle, they had 'specialist' to that job.

While she never served in her father's regiment she knew how he operated. The normal NCR soldier would be assigned to a unit after three weeks of training. After that most soldiers got their own religion. Their own gods to believe in; but most of them worshiped their commanding officer; the deity that kept them alive.

That wasn't any different in her father's regiment. The difference was that he made sure everyone of his soldiers were ready and skilled enough to fight.

After her father got a green recruit he put each one of them in an extra three month training period. They learned every skill a soldier needed to survive. Sniper training, laser weapons, heavy ballistics, hand to hand and stealth. She didn't know if he included officer training in that one as well, but it wouldn't surprise her. In any case a Blunt soldier was worth much more than your standard NCR grunt, add superior gear to that and you had one mean regiment. Of course this was all paid by her family instead of the NCR government. If the NCR attempted to that themselves it would bankrupt them by the sheer scale of soldiers.

But back to the situation at hand. The gangers were actually standing behinds the walls keeping sentry , the only question now was whether they did at the night as well. After making a plan and asking the Lieutenant for some supplies, which the Lieutenant was happy to provide, she went off to deal with the troublesome gangers.

Now the only thing left was to wait for it to become night.

* * *

She reached the bridge between the ruins and Primm and climbed her way down. One of the fires was at the near Primm's entrance over the bridge. It was an easy climb and within no time she was already climbing up again.

Apparently they did keep watch at night.

As she climbed up she could hear the conversation between the three voices she heard over the wall. "I really fucking regret following this guy man." Said the first voice. "Why because he put you here instead of nice and cozy inside?." Said the second and much lower voice. "Yeah I do, I didn't follow him so I could be locked up in her instead of the fucking prison." Said the first voice again. "He said he would deal with the NCR to night grumpy, so don't worry." A third much younger voice responded. "Yeah, he did you saw what he and the other like him did in the prison man. If they had all had come along we could get the whole region for ourselves." She was now standing on the wall and pulled her matches out. "Oh please kid it's not like he is..." He never finished his sentence as she jump down stabbing him in the neck. Before the other two could react she cut of the head of the on her left and buried one machete in the other one.

She took a breath, recovering from the strain of climbing the wall and jumping from it. She looked over the courtyard and was pleased to see that no one had heard her. She would need to deal with the sentries first. She walked along the wall while being mildly shocked there weren't patrols. If she thought about it in convicts sense, sure slack around, no problem. But being able to take out Primm's security suggested military.

She made her way past the sheriff's home and found another group of three powder gangers 'hiding' behind a wall with a fire going. They were huddled around the fire facing each other. One of them was facing in her direction but the other two were facing the road into Primm. She couldn't use her guns just yet, which meant she needed to rush them before they could alert anyone. "Do you think the boss is going to go out soon and kill the rest of the NCR?." One of them asked. She slowly made her way towards the powder gangers just stopping before she was in the light from the fire. "Of course he is, you saw what he can do in the prison."

She contemplated on her course of action. She went back a bit to get a good sprint towards them. When she started running, she alerting the powder gangers to her presence. She held the machete in her left hand and threw it towards the powder gangers facing her. Which landed squarely in his chest. The other two tried to draw their guns but she was already in chopping range. She chopped off first one's head and followed with burying her machete in other one's shoulder.

This was going too easy. She had taken out six powder gangers with relative ease. It was possible that their boss was that big a bad-ass to have done this alone but she had her doubts. She retrieved her machete and made her way towards the last group. And decided on a different course of action. She needed information. The last group was pretty much the same as the last one. The only exception that there were two guys facing her way instead of one. This time she threw both her machetes towards the two powder gangers and pulled the last one towards the ground wrapping her hand around his throat. He struggled of course but even as weak as she was she could easily hold him in this position.

"now listen up scum you have two choices. One: I choke you to death." The powder ganger shook his head as much as he could with her hand wrapped around his throat. "Good" She paused a bit for the dramatic effect to take it's toll "Two: you tell me everything you know about your gang." He nodded even before she was done with her sentence. She let her grip around her throat slack a little but not enough so he couldn't feel any pressure. "How many guys do you have around and where are you guys sleeping? And where are the civilians?."

So far she hadn't seen anyone expect the guys outside, both groups could be at one of two places. The powder gangers voice was hoarse but she could still hear him just fine. "The guys are in that big building with the roller coaster. The towns people went into that building a bit back and barricade the door." She was pleased to hear the civilians were okay. She didn't expect Nash to die so easily and the doors to Vikki and Vance were reinforced especially in the case Primm got attacked. "Good, now how big is your gang?" The powder ganger took a moment to think about before answering. She added some pressure around his throat. "Now don't lie to me scum, that would hurt my feelings." He made a choking sounds before she eased her grip again. "About thirty, including the boss." About thirty, that meant she already had killed about a third of them. "Good boy, your buddies I already took care of, mentioned him already, what do you know about him?." His eyes widened on realization what her words meant.

"I don't know much, I only know he is from the Divide and..." She stopped him mid sentence by choking him again. "Now listen here scum I know everything there is to know about the Divide, and let me tell you something." She closed the distance between so that they were eye to eye. "There are eleven people who survived the Divide, ten of them are in a prison that would require an army to break out. So do you want to tell the truth now or are you picking option one?."

He shook his head as hard as he could before she eased her grip again and let him talk. "He is from the Divide I swear, he told everyone that he was from the Divide I swear." She look him straight in the eye looking for any sign he was lying.

And found none.

Could it be? Someone else then her free to travel the wastes? It shouldn't matter from what tribe the guy was from, revenge would unite them. Hell, maybe maybe someone of her own tribe was leading the powder gangers. Share her burden of avenging the Divide. She had to wipe away tears from her eyes at the though.

But wait, the others talked about that there were more like their boss.

"There were more like your boss! Where are they! " She made sure to add a little pressure with her question and immediately released him. "uhg ah yeah, they didn't get along with our boss...the others almost killed him, but spared him for some reason." That wasn't so hard to imagine. Most of the tribes hated each other for so long they didn't know how to do anything else.

"Which tribe is your boss from? What tribe were the others from!" She added the sequence of adding and removing pressure to his throat. "ugh, I don't know they were speaking in some funny language I couldn't understand . The boss didn't mention his tribe." She narrowed her eyes. She needed more information. If their boss was from an enemy tribe and recognized her she would have a hell of a fight on her hands. It was entirely possibly she didn't how she looked like since she usually wore a helmet into battle, but not at negotiations.

"Where did the other ten go!" The convict's eyebrows twitched a little before answering. "They went with Cooke, something about getting revenge on the NCR."

Of fucking course they would. Depending on what tribe they were from, they could do a lot of damage to the NCR. She gritted her teeth. They were being mislead, sure the NCR imprisoned them, but they weren't the ones that destroyed the Divide, that was Octavian. She took a deep breath fighting against the NCR was her greatest sin and fate punished her for it. She wasn't going to repeat the same mistake twice. If she had to she would drag them all kicking and screaming to the east to lay waste to the Legion instead.

She shook her head. She was going to kill every single powder ganger and then attempt to recruit whoever was leading them. She would have to mislead the NCR that everyone was dead, but that was worth it. She looked at the convict. He looked in his mid twenties. Younger than her... . It was hard killing in cold blood, but he knew that she was related to the Divide. Add her black hair growing back, it would make them wonder. Something she couldn't afford.

"Think about a happy memory." she said sweetly.

Before he had the time to think she crushed his wind pipe. She retrieved her machetes. She made her way towards the Bison Steve Hotel with her bloody machetes. Full with anticipation for who she would find there.

AN:

So, shorts fired. I would love to hear what people think about the hinted changes. I would also love some feedback on the stealth and the monologue about Vicky's dad.

So please review!


	7. Chapter 6: BOOM!

Chapter 5.5

 **AN: this continues directly after chapter 5.**

She placed her head against the door trying to hear how many were inside, but couldn't really hear anything. She had two choices to deal with this. One: wait and see in front of the hotel and ambush them. Two: head inside and try to kill them one by one.

Both had their risks, but she felt that her changes were better with trying to kill them one by one. Especially if this boss of theirs was really that good. She slowly opened the door into the lobby not knowing what to expect. She looked through the crack and saw some light coming from a distance. She could also hear some talking in the distance but couldn't make out what they were saying. She crouched down and slowly opened the door further until the crack was big enough for her to slip through. She slowly closed the door after her and she flinched after it made a little creek when it closed.

"What was that?" One of the convicts said. She was on high alert now with her machetes out ready to jump over the counter and prevent anyone from alerting the others. "I didn't hear anything just deal the cards already I want to earn my money back."Said one with an annoyed almost angry voice. She heard a grunt which she took as an agreement and didn't hear anything else. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. If all of the convicts came at her at the same time with their boss in tow she wouldn't have made it out alive .

She silently crouched forward until she was against the counter making sure not a make a single sound. She slowly peaked around the counter and saw the side of one of the voices. She didn't dare risk going further because of the second one. "Ha! Won again!" The one she had in sight stood up and was point his finger towards the other one. "You fucking cheat I fucking know it, no one is so lucky! "

"I'm sorry to say this my friend, but caravan has nothing to do with luck. Now if you don't get that finger out of my face ill cut it off."

That did it and the sore loser immediately launched himself atop his fellow convicts. She shook her head. Criminals, at least these kind of criminals, made poor guards. She stood up and saw the sore loser trying to stab his fellow convict with a knife, all the while the bottom one was trying to keep the knife from his chest with all his might. He did notice her. "Hey man! Watch out we have company!" But the top one didn't listen. "Yeah sure we do, and I'm a upstanding citizen!"

"You could have fooled me." She said with an small grin. The one on top look up to her with an horrified expression. She didn't give him a chance to react as she immediately stabbed him in the heart, but she kept pushing the machete further attempting to stab both of them in the process, but she couldn't apply enough force to go through both of them. The bottom one rolled out under his 'friend' just before the machete reached him. He rolled over the fire and stood up and started running for the door. She threw her machete after him which landed squarely in his back.

She stepped over the body and walked up to the runner and pulled her machete out. She dragged the body back with her and didn't stop until she was behind the counter. She wasn't familiar with the hotel and didn't know where people could come from in the hotel and it wouldn't help her if anyone discovered that someone was killing their friends before she was done. When she went to hide the second body she saw the a riot helmet. It had a tinted glass which should be bullet proof. She put down her cowboy hat and put on the riot helmet, she didn't count on getting shot in the head again, but she wasn't about to dare fate again.

After hiding the second body behind the counter she made her way towards the hallway. On her left it was pure darkness and on right there was a light at the end of the hall and the faint sounds of music. She slowly made her way towards the light. As she came closer she could make out the sound of people partying. There were two two doors at either side of the wall. Of the four doors there was only one open. She could see three couches about five people spread over them, they were drinking heavily. She tried to look a little further in the room and could make out two to four other powder gangers. That meant five to nine of the powder gangers were at least in the room.

She pondered her options. This room could possibly hold the majority of the powder gangers including the boss. On the one hand she could wait for them to all fall asleep and slit their throats one for one. On the other hand their boss could be already on his way to kill the NCR soldiers. The others did mention they were going to take care of the NCR tonight.

She made up her mind and grabbed the dynamite sticks and the mines she got from the Lieutenant. She carefully placed on mine at each door. Next she grabbed her lighter and lined up the fuse of all four dynamite sticks. The moment they all ignited she took a step into room. At first none noticed her, too busy with what they were doing. There were the five on the couch, four right from the door to the other room chatting with booze in their hands, on the left of the door there four more doing the same, and on her right were four wounded powder gangers lying on cots.

She threw one stick of dynamite to each group of powder gangers, and then drew her revolvers. Just before the dynamite went of the two groups by the door noticed the dynamite and ran away, the other two either didn't notice the dynamite or couldn't get away but either way they were blown away by the dynamite.

When she noticed the two groups running away from the dynamite and running for cover behind some table's she immediately opened fire on them. What she hadn't noticed was that someone had just had come through the door in full body armor and was blown back in the room due to the explosions.

She fired four times on the left group but only hit three of them, one in the leg the other two in the arm. Before they could shoot back at here she rolled towards a table and flipped it for cover. The table's were pretty thick so long they didn't have anything with much too much punch she would be fine. As they opened fire she kept her eyes open for any dynamite in case they threw one back at her and reloaded her bullets for her revolvers. They gangers kept shooting and shooting never relenting.

She could hear shouts and screams of pain over the gunfire. In a single moment all the shooting stopped. She peek over the table she was crouching behind to see a couple of the gangers running for the door.

Jackpot

Not a second after a couple of gangers went out the door a big boom reeked chaos with the gangers. She saw a single leg throw back into the room and heard multiple screams. She saw the four remaining gangers looking blankly at the situation, like they had just been hit with a hammer. She didn't hesitate and jumped over the table. She started shooting with shook the gangers out of their daze. The first couple of shots both from her and the gangers were wide at best. But as she got closer they got closer and closer.

She didn't wait for them to hit her and slid over the floor the rest of the way to their table. She had her feet against the table, guns pointed towards the top of the table. She didn't hear anything, but she could imagine the gangers looking at each other in a way that said 'so who goes first?'.

She didn't have to wait long. The remaining gangers all stood up simultaneously. They all had their guns pointed straight in front of them. Which meant at least two weren't pointed at her. She shot the two that stood in front of her. The other two in the panic wildly pointed at her. The first was missed by a long shot, but the second hit her helmet. Her eyes widened when she saw the bullet lodged in her helmet. Instinct took over and she mindlessly emptied her gun at the gangers.

She took a long deep breath and let her arms fall to the ground. Still laying on the ground she pulled the helmet of her head and inspected the bullet in the visor. The bullet had gone though the visor for the most part, only the tail end was still stuck in the visor. She let her head fall on the ground.

Inches away from death, again. She puffed out some air. The reaper was always two steps behind her. It was way worse in the Divide, even in her prime she still felt that death was only one step behind. The Mojave was a constant two. It seemed though, she thought looking at the visor again, that he was slowly catching up. She went to a sitting position, grasping the gun that the bullet was from. The gun was well maintained, a credit to the guard that the ganger had stolen it from. The only reasons she was alive was because the gun wasn't of a higher caliber.

She quickly reloaded her guns, lit a cigarette, made a inventory of everything valuable and threw it all in a bag she found in the room. It was a nice find and she figured if anyone was alive they would have already come down an tripped the mine in the doorway. She looked around the room, thinking how easy it had been to kill everyone. It was inconceivable that these guys had taken down Primm.

Which meant either the guards were completely wasted or the powder ganger boss had moved on. She took a big drag of her cigarette with a content sigh. She didn't know how the higher up would react to this fuck up, but it would most certainly earn her some goodwill for her activities in Legion territories. She made her way to the left door, the one without a mine planted in front of it. She was almost out of the room when a cleaver landed squarely in the door.

"So those bastard finally sent someone after me did they?" a high scratchy voice said. "Ya should have gone after the others, they're the real monsters. I'm just trying to survive this shit-hole." She had gone rigid after hearing the voice. She couldn't say from what fear? Surprise? Shock? Excitement? Maybe all of the above.

"Well come on now little girl. Ashton the weeper, doesn't kill people from behind." The old grumpy bastard said. She never had liked Ashton, always treating her with no respect, just because she wasn't born in the Divide. But that didn't mean the man was unskilled. Her mind raced, there was only one way she was going to defeat him in her current state and that was to get him angry. She snorted to herself. The sure fire way to make Ashton angry was to act exactly like he expected her to act.

She threw the bag next to her and drew her machetes. She turned around and opened her arms as to present herself. "Ashton, you frail little man, you actually survived? I am really losing my touch!" she shouted along with a feeling of giddiness.

She took in his appearance.

He still had the big fuzzy blond beard and a bald head. He had freckles just under his eyes and along his nose. That is if he had one. Where his nose should have been was instead a stump that made his face distasteful to see. The rest of his skin was smooth as a baby giving away that he would have been quite pretty if it wasn't for his missing nose. He was wielding two machetes, just like her, with the left one being on waist height and the right one being on shoulders height.

"YOU!" Ashton growled. He took a step forward and she followed. "Why aren't you fucking dead!" She shook her head and made a tsk sound. "oh Ashton, please, we both know I can't be killed. Your children found out the hard way remember? Besides I should be asking you that." She looked him directly in the eye already seeing anger and a burning hatred in his eyes. "How did you survive being throw into a tunnelers pit away?"She asked genuinely curious.

He took another step forward. "The knife you gave me, that's how!" and he charged.

She charged as well. Ashton started his attacked by making a sideways slash. Which she dodged by ducking under them. Ashton followed up with a raised knee.

She let herself fall to the side; rolling out of the was as Ashton followed her with multiple slashes leaving deep cuts on the floor. She managed to dodge and block all of them, but she was slowly being forced against a wall "What is there bitch can't win without your armor can you!" he shouted gleefully. She didn't respond instead she positioned herself against the wall. Ashton face was lit in pure delight. He immediately raised his machetes and brought them down on her.

She let herself fall to the side and made a roll. Ashton followed making multiple slashes against. She dodged and blocked all of them slowly being beaten back to the wall. "What is there bitch can't win without your armor can you!" he shouted gleefully. She didn't respond instead she positioned herself against the wall. Ashton face was a face of pure delight. He immediately raised his machetes and brought them down on her.

Everything seemed to slow down as the two machetes came her way. Quickly she sunk to her knees, watching as the machetes embedded themselves into the wall she had just been standing in front of. Quickly she leaped forward and slashed with her own machetes, cutting his belly as he moved out of the way to dodge her. Immediately she continued her assault by roundhouse kicking him in the face, which made the already stumbling and out of balance idiot, land on his back. However the man just wouldn't stay down; instead he quickly got back up to his feet "No Ashton, I was just thinking about how Ashton junior squealed like a baby when I gutted him." Ashton gritted his teeth together with his lips parted. He took another step forward, but then retreated a step back. Ashton took a long deep breath and when he looked into her eyes they were calm.

Her reactions was to sink to her knee's as the machetes landed in the wall. She made a forward slash with her own machetes. She cut his belly as he leapt back and she immediately stepped up following with a roundhouse kick to the face. Ashton landed on his back, but Ashton immediately rolled back on his feat. "No Ashton, I was just thinking about how Ashton junior squealed like a baby when I gutted him." Ashton gritted his teeth together with his lips parted. He took another step forward, but then retreated a step back. Ashton took a long deep breath and when he looked into her eyes they were calm.

Well fuck.

Almost tauntingly the man pulled out two knives; one she recognized and another one she didn't know about. Without further words spoken he charged at her. Without any hesitation she stabbed forward with her machetes, however he dodged by spinning to the right; trying to stab her face whilst doing so. She craned her head back, hissing as one of the knives scratched her cheek. Twisting the machetes in her hand she used them to try and cut his stomache again however he seemed to have known as he kneed her into her stomach, knocking the wind out of her. Gasping and a bit frantic she fell to the ground and barely managed to roll out of the way when Ashton tried to kick her again. However he wasn't finished with her yet. He continued running after her as she continued rolling away. By the next roll Ashton tried yet again his luck with a kick, however she quickly reacted by slashing out with her machete. It gave her enough time to get up and rethink her strategy, whilst also preparing for Ashton's next attack. Her body was already exhausted despite only fighting for a couple of minutes and she knew that if this fight would drag on she WOULD lose. Scanning the area around her for anything useful she noticed the door. A quick glance was all it took before she came up with an idea.

He pulled out two knives, one of which she recognized and he made another charge. She didn't hesitate and made a forward stab with her machetes. He did spin to the right and made a stab for her face. She craned her head back as the knife scratched her cheek. She turned the machetes in her hand and tried to cut his stomach again, but he raised his knee into her stomach. She fell to the ground and barely rolled out of the way when Ashton tried to kick her. Ashton ran after her as she rolled. She made a slash with her machete when he tried to kick her again. It gave her enough time to stand up and prepare for his next attack and think. She was already feeling exhausted despite only fighting for a couple of moments. If this fight was dragged she would lose. She took a quick glance to the door she came through and came up with a idea.

She threw her machete in a straight line for Ashton. Ashton dropped his knife and caught the machete as he ducked out of the way. She drew her grandfathers 10 mm and started running for the other side of the room. Ashton mirrored her movements as she fired at him. She didn't hit him, that wasn't her intent as he jumped over the tables. They ended with Ashton standing in front of door and her standing in front of him.

"Well well, the mighty Mallery running away." Ashton had a smug smile on his face. "If only your tribe could see you now." She couldn't resist and put on a big smug smile herself. "That's the difference Ashton. My tribe only cared for results, not how they are achieved." Before he had time to think about it she threw her other machete. She immediately ran after it. Just as with the other machete, Ashton turned his body to the side. She noticed that he was preparing his knife to stab her as soon as she came into range, but she didn't plan on getting killed just yet. Nor did she intent to stab or shoot him this time.

She saw him prepare his knife to stab her when he was back up, but she didn't intent to stab or shoot him this time.

She shot her remaining two bullets towards Ashton. One grazed his leg and the other one totally missed its mark. She could see that Ashton was unsure of what her plan was, which suited her. She could already see Ashton raising the machete athe knife to stab her. She continued running as the machete came down and he made stabbing motions towards her belly with the knife. She changed the angle of her body a little so that her right shoulder was at the front. She also went a little to the right. As they made contact the machete barely miss her. She could feel the air current of the machete as it came down. The knife hit her squarely in her lower back as her shoulder made contact with Ashton's chest.

As she fell down from the pain and exhaustion, she could see Ashton flying through the doors. His face was full of glee despite being hit in the chest. He tried to take the knife with him as he flew fell back, but lost his grip. He did keep hold of the machete as he landed on his back and rolled further down the hallway.

Right on top of the mine she had placed there.

BOOM!

 **AN:  
** **Please review!**


	8. Chapter 7: a prayer

The room was silent was deadly silent for only a moment, but it felt like an eternity. She could see Ashton's body a little further up in the hallway. She didn't know if he was already dead or not, but he was missing his left leg. She was laying onto her stomach feeling exhausted and hurt by the knife. She reached behind to remove the knife lodged into her lower back. The moment she pulled the knife, she started bleeding. Her face twiched from the pain, but she pressed on. She pressed her right hand against the wound and used the left to help herself to a sitting position.

She was breathing heavily with deep long breath. She could feel herself becoming weaker by the moment. She took another long deep breath, which made her cough up blood. _Need to act fast_ she thought. She quickly tried to find the stimpacks she had. First looking into the right chest pocket. _faster_ a voice whispered, her sight became clouded. She shocker head trying to regain focus. She looked for the stimpack in her left pocket and found it. She immediately plunged the stimpack into the knife wound, she almost forgot to remove her hand before injecting the stuff.

She immediately felt the burning sensation of the drug healing her body. Stimpacks were doubled edged sword as far a combat drugs went. It would disinfect and close up the source of bleeding. It even had limited use in healing small fractures in bones but not as far that any self respecting doctor would really approve of it. But the big disadvantage was that it mostly drew of the rest of the body to close up the wound. She didn't know enough of to know exactly what it did, but she did know that depending on how bad the wound was how more it took out of the user. Depending on the soldier and the wound they usually needed to take caffeine pills to press forward.

For a knife wound however it would just make her more tired and drain away some of her bodily fluids.

She had seen junkies stick the things into their necks or stomachs just to relieve the damage they did their bodies for a couple of seconds. She even had seen veteran soldiers constantly suffering from old combat wounds becoming addicted to the stuff to relieve the constant pain.

Oh stimpacks could heal the damaged organ and make the pain go away, but it fucked with everything else in the process. Not that it really helped since it wasn't designed to cure addictions or remove the pain from a old combat wound.

She looked at the knife she pulled from her back. She had a snort when she confirmed, it was the same dam fucking knife she had throw into the tunnelers pit with Ashton. Instead of the standard metal combat knife you usually saw around the wastes, this knife was made of a claw. A tunnelers claw to be precise. it was slightly shorter than a standard combat knife and the hilt was made of a kind of stone. The actual blade instead of a steel grey was a light brown. Almost the same pigment of a human being. In likely hood was this the last tunnerlers knife in existence. She put the knife in her boot, not wanting to be wasted on a looter.

She grabbed her grandfathers 10mm, reloaded and put it back in the holder. She slowly picked herself up. She slowly made her way through the door heavily leaning against the door and walls. She had to resist the urge to grab a cigarette as she usually did. She looked over to Ashton, who was alive.

But not for long. He was deathly pale and was taking shallow breaths. "Like...what...you...see...bitch." he said with a weak and faltering voice. She slowly shook her head. "No Ashton, I don't like what I see." She looked him over, besides missing his left leg he was also missing parts of his right left. There was no way to save him. Ashton picked up his machete and made a weak attempt to cut her. He had only raised the blade a couple of inches before the blade fell.

"You never give up, do you Ashton?" She said with admiration. If anything Ashton deserved her respect. It was a shame that they were enemies the last time they saw each. They could have found the others and get revenge together.

"I'll bury you if you want me to." She said trying to sound kind. Ashton almost looked offend. "I...am...of...the...Divide...and...do not need pity!" he growled out with his last breath. His body went slack. Another one of the Divide dead. she closed her eyes not knowing what to feel. She carefully lowered herself to her knee's and closed his eyes. She did a prayer for him in the language of the Divide.

"[Oh mighty warrior, you have died. Oh might warrior you died bathed in blood and glory. Oh mighty warrior, you will be remembered. For the victories against the long rock tribe, fire fist tribe and many more. For your war waged against Mallery from the Death hand tribe. For the legendary battle of three days. For surviving a tunnelers pit with only a knife. And last, injuring another mighty warrior before death took you. Oh mighty warrior, you have died.]" It had been four years since she had spoken in the language of the Divide. It almost felt strange, foreign even. She snorted to herself. Maybe, Ashton was right. At the end of the day, she didn't grow up in the Divide. She grew up in Shady Sands. The heart of the NCR, the heart of her family.

BUT, the Divide forged her. Molded her. She looked at her hand. Where her family gave her the skills to survive in the wastes. The Divide gave her the ability to thrive. It gave her happiness. And now, years later it gave her grief. She owed the Divide much. At the very least it deserved to have its vengeance. She looked at Ashton's face.

"I promise you Ashton, I will avenge the Divide."

She made her way out of the hotel. She needed to use the wall to keep herself up right. By the time she reached the exit she almost wanted to lay down. She looked at the over side of the street. She used a piece of wood as a crutch to make her way to the Vikki and vance casino. The casino had big wooden doors with a small opening in the door to safely see who was in front of the door. She slamed her first against the door a couple of times with all her strength. It didn't take long for the opening in the door to open. To reveal a surprised Johnson Nash.

"Hey Nash, how ya doi.."

And then everything went black.

* * *

 _8 years ago_

Victoria Blunt wasn't easily scared. The Divide however did just that and much more.

"Me and my big head, that was so clever, trying to lose an assassin on my trail by traveling to hell on earth." she said to herself. At first she thought the assassin was sent after her because she had a winning streak in the fight clubs around New Reno. But that was months ago now and the bastard was still following her. At this point she figured it was someone trying to get even with her Father. She could travel to Baja and ask him for help, but she would rather eat shit and die than ask that bastard for anything.

That was the point she told herself "Hey Victoria why not lose him in the Divide, no one is brave or stupid enough to follow you there and you're that big of a badass that you can manage just fine."

And o sure, she was just fine in the endless mazes of caves. She once had the bright idea to make her way topside, but the first clearing she found she had only to look up and see the sandstorms to realize that was a no go.

If she had to guess that was about a month ago.

She was almost out of supplies. She had been lucky to find a small creek at one point, otherwise she would have been dead already. She was making her way through yet another cave hoping find a clearing where she had an unobstructed view of the sun so she could tell where the hell North was. She had a compass but it had stopped working now long after she arrived in the Divide.

It had been days, she guessed, since the last time she found a small clearing. She was trying to make it back west but the caves were confusing as hell and she felt like she was going east instead.

She finally saw a small clearing with a patch of grass, which was rare as far as she could tell. With a small sprint she ran the last bit towards the clearing, _sweet sun her I come_ she thought. She just reached the clearing when something else did as well.

It was big, about 8 feet give or take and had a light brown color. The creatures skin was some kind of leather that looked as sturdy as the caves surrounding them. It had long skinny yet muscular arms with hand that looked a lot like an ordinary human hand. The big difference being it had about a feet long claws instead of fingernails. The creature had bipedal legs and its feet had some kind of claws as well that look like would be used to give traction on bad terrain. To finish it off it's had a big long tail that seemed to stabilize its hunchbacked stance.

Victoria Blunt had just seen her first deathclaw and if she was careless now it would be her last.

* * *

She shot up right in her bend screaming "RICK!". She was sweaty and sore and she didn't initially know where she was, but quickly realized she was in the Mojave express. She shook her head a couple of times to dispel the nightmares from her mind. It felt more intense than they normally did. Maybe to do with encountering Ashton.

"Finally awake I see."

She looked up to see Ruby Nash standing in the doorway. Ruby was an old black woman in her sixties. You wouldn't be able to tell though if you looked how active she was around the town. Her face however showed her face perfectly though by the many lines on her face. She had light gray hair and was wearing a old but fashionable business suit.

"Yeah, how is the town doing?"

Ruby gave a shrug and nodded her head towards the window. "Johnson is busy yelling at those NCR folks, though I don't think it's going to do any good. As for the rest of the town most people got in the casino before McBain and the rest got killed." Her face changed to an expression of disgust and said: "except Beagle of course, that good for nothing hid with us in the casino."

She shook her head not of disapproval. Beagle was a big good for nothing as far as being an sheriff went. Him trying to fight the powder gangers and Ashton would have been a complete waste. Especially considering McBain and the rest didn't slow him down either.

She heard a loud slam downstairs and someone stomping up the stairs followed soon after. A couple of second later Johnson Nash entered the guest room. Johnson Nash, most people just called him Nash like she did.

"Those good for nothing opportunist asked me if we we're reconsidering signing the NCR charter."

It was a smart move on the NCR's side, a bastardly move, but smart none the less. She didn't know how the higher ups would react to the interruption to the daily business, but she doubted it would be positive. She didn't do It for the company's sake, but she did think this would give her some leeway with her extraticular activities.

In any case the base of operations in the Mojave was in danger and that wouldn't do. "how long do you think it's going to take to set up a new protection detail, Nash?"

Nash had a lighter skin color than in wife, but not by much. He had as much or more lines edge in his face. He wore a blue overall and a white t-shirt.

"I don't know Vicky, our reputation is going to keep raiders messing with us for a while but it isn't going to last."

She nodded in acknowledgement. Towns didn't survive without guards for long .That was just a fact of the wastes.

"In any case, I wanted to thank you Vicky. Who knows how long we would locked in that casino if you hadn't come along."

She gave a shrug, with still hurt. "No problem Nash, I owe you and would have come when I heard about the powder gangers anyway."

He gave her a smile, "I am curious on how you delivered that package so fast, by my estimate you would have just arrived in Vegas."

"Yeah…., about that." She said apologetic.


	9. Chapter 8: Haircut

"So let me get this straight not only did someone know which route you normally take, he also knew what you were carrying?" Nash said with a worried voice. She gave a shrug and took a sip from the bottle of water Ruby had given about halfway through her explanation.

"This is a first rate disaster Vicky, a lot of caps was riding on this job." She raised an eyebrow towards Nash. "How many exactly?" She asked with a curious tone. It must have been a lot of caps to get Nash visibly worried.

"About two twenty five thousand everything considered." She spit out her water out of shock. "And I only was getting paid fifteen hundred!? What the hell Nash?!

She waved her outrage away with his hand. "Most of those caps was used to keep everything quite Vicky, so don't give me that look." He looked at the wall next her for a second in thought and then turned back to her. "Okay you most defiantly need to get that package back Vicky, there's no way in hell the higher ups are going to be happy about this." She gave a snort at that. Twenty five thousand was enough to get a small army killed. "What can you tell about the job Nash?" That amount of caps would be enough to keep a lot of people quiet so someone must have fucked up down the line.

Nash took a deep breath before starting. "Well one of the strange things was, the client specifically asked for you to be the courier for a certain package."

She quirked her nose at the statement. "Not that strange isn't though." She said in reference to her earlier jobs for the company. "I didn't think so at first either until I got the names for the rest of the packages." Nash took a deep gulp of his bottle of water. "You see, the files I got about the other couriers who were supposed carry the rest of the stuff all had more impressive track records then yours, on paper"

"So? I'll admit I have a pretty resume but that doesn't mean I'm the best the company has, right?"

"That isn't it, Vicky. I knew these guys, every single of them didn't come near the amount of experience they were supposed to have on paper. besides that isn't everything, I only was told you would carry some chip and the rest would carry random stuff."

"Okay, but?" She interjected.

"But I only got that piece of information from a courier that said he got it directly for the guys on the top, and I heard he died not a day after he left Primm. The rest arrived through different packages through the mail, all from different location, one snippet at the time, never stating what would be carried by who."

She gave a whistle at that. That was pretty far to keep a secret. "What happened to the other couriers?"

Nash gave her annoyed look. "I haven't heard anything from them yet. They could be dead, or they could drinking their paycheck away. Could be either and it's going to make a lot of difference as to finding out who blew the whistle on this one." Nash finished with evenly annoyed tone.

She couldn't blame him with these stakes. "Don't worry about it Nash, Ill track down the suit bastard and be back in legion territory making relationship with the Legion a pain in the ass again."

"You can't." He said flatly. She could feel her face twitch at the statement. "Why not?"

He signed and looked out of the window. "A legion emissary came along about two weeks ago. He said that the couriers would no longer be welcome in the East and that they were passing along the message to all branches in the East or near the East."

She could feel a panic almost bubble up in her. Without the free pass into legion territories the couriers provided she would to find an alternative. There weren't a lot of those. Caravan's were slow and didn't provide her with the mobility she needed for her hunt. Besides that there weren't many choice. Unless she was willing to fight every freaking patrol she encountered.

"Why?" she asked in a hushed whisper.

"The emissary wasn't clear on that, something about giving the NCR to many opportunities to harass them." She blinked a couple of times at Nash, not believing what she was hearing. The NCR harassing the Legion?

Ridiculous

The whole reason she believed the NCR was going to lose the fight for the dam was because they were spread too thin. Every caravan trying to supply all the small bases around the Mojave was getting literally hacked to pieces. The NCR barely had enough men to keep the bases they had at the moment, let alone go on the offensive. Oh sure, a couple veteran rangers could deal a big amount of damage in legion territory, but this would be trivial in comparison to the amount damage the legion does to the NCR every day.

Besides the majority of veteran rangers were in Baja alongside her father leading a successful campaign against warlords there. She highly doubted her father would part with his highest asset.

Hell, she doubted that third rate general Oliver would even accepted their help, since he was so fucking dedicated to show that anything related to her family was unnecessary.

"The company is going to ignore them right?" she almost pleaded. Nash wrinkled his nose "no idea to be honest. It may be worth the expense, but I have no real insight on that."

She sat right up in her bed looking straight into Nash his eyes "They can't, there are to many clients in the East to give up on them!" she pleaded. Nash gave her odd look, like she was a child begging for her toy back. Hell, she felt like one.

Nash looked away, out of disgust? Pity? She didn't know. In any case his voice sounded apologetic when he responded. "I'm sorry Vicky, but I can't help you."

Now it was her turn away from him. But she knew why she was turning away.

It was shame.

A little over four years ago she was the most proud and feared woman in the wastes. now? She was begging an old man for something he couldn't give her. It was pathetic. She wanted to blame Octavian for her current state, and he was mostly guilty, but he wasn't the only one.

Nash left soon after and she sank back into the pillow and gathered her thoughts. If there was still doubt if House was the client, it was blown away now. But why choose her? There were older, more experienced couriers. It was possible House knew about her past but who could tell him? As far as the world knew she was dead, burned to a crisp by multiple nuclear explosions.

She shook her head. It didn't matter why House wanted her to deliver the chip, the only thing that matter was getting her stuff back and go on the road again. If she wanted to travel into Legion territory with the intend to fight the whole legion she need the key in her baton.

But there were also other things she needed address. She raised her hand in front of her and baled it into a fist. Since she woke up in Good Springs she felt...constantly tired. Like someone had shackled a block of concrete to each of her limbs. It was possible for her to do everything she normally did, but only in small sprints. She would need to pay a visit to the clinic in Vegas when she arrived there.

The next hour she stayed in the bed thinking about her plans. Possible angles, possible methods of attack, possible alliances she could forge to get what she wanted. The problem was she really knew jack about Vegas. She knew House ruled the three families, but she didn't even know the names of said families. Let alone which one was the dominate one. No, she would need to scout the whole place out, but could she really? She didn't think the suit would be looking for her, but if he saw her she would die and she doubted she could cheat death so brazenly a other time.

After an hour of thinking about pointless what if situation she made her way downstairs. The stairs as usually creaked like there was no tomorrow. she could smell Ruby's casserole. She found Ruby and Nash in the kitchen, with Ruby cooking and Nash reading some papers.

"Hi Vicky, could you be a dear and set the plates?" She nodded and prepared the table grabbing the plates , forks, knives and spoons . All the while Nash was reading his papers. It was their usual routine, Ruby cooking and Nash silently reading whatever he read to entertain himself. It always made her envious of them. After she was done setting the table she sat in her chair and waited a couple of minutes for Ruby to be done with the casserole and placed it on the table. "Dinner is served!" Ruby said with her cheery voice. She waited for Nash to put his papers and wait for him to scoop up his portion, Ruby followed scooping up a portion for her and herself.

"So Vicky, I see your beautiful black hair is growing back again" Ruby said with a teasing tone. She only made an annoyed clicking sound, she knew where this conversation was going. "Yup" she said flatly. "So, are you going to let it grow back this time." Vicky let out a groan. Both Ruby and Nash gave a laugh.

"Stop pestering the girl Ruby, she obviously doesn't want to" Nash said. Although his amused tone said differently. "I am just saying Nash, her black locks go much better with those green eyes of hers. And you know better to discourage me from talking about people's hair." Ruby finished with a warning tone. Nash just raised his hands in surrender and took another bite of his casserole.

"Te honest Ruby, I wanted to ask if you could dye my hair brown this time." She said as she took the first bite of her casserole and groaned in satisfaction. Ruby gave a groan in annoyance "Hpf, I don't have any brown dye's anymore Vicky, miss McBain used the last of it." Ruby shock her sad face to disperse the thoughts of the dead woman. She had never really cared for McBain's wife, but she didn't think the woman deserved her fate. Although dying with the man you loved wasn't the worst thing that could happen. "The gangers raided the store and threw away anything they didn't use." Ruby said, anticipating her next question.

"Pity, guess I'll have to shave my head bald then." She said taking another bite.

"NO!" Ruby shrieked standing up and pointing towards her. "I won't let you ruining the beautiful hair of yours, Vicky!" Vicky just shook her head. Ruby had always insisted she had beautiful hair, though she didn't see it that way she always indulged Ruby when she was visiting. Ruby sat back down and took her hand in hers. "I don't know what happened in your past Vicky." She stiffened at the mere mention of her past from Ruby lips. It always was an unspoken rule they didn't discuss it. "But who ever this Rick person was, he must have been important to you and you to him." She swallowed and tried to pull her hand away, but Ruby held it in a vice grip. "And trying to remove every semblance of former self wouldn't be what he wanted."

This was the first time ever she wanted to punch Ruby in the face.

"Ruby" Nash tried to interject. "NO Johnson, I've seen her come back with more scares every time she returned and this time she looks like she got shot in the face! You might be okay with her throwing her life away but I am most defiantly not!" Ruby screamed.

She was absolutely trembling now, trying to cage her anger. "Vicky, child please listen, the last four years you came back every time looking worse and worse. Every time I saw your eyes darken more and more, like pieces of your soul. I am asking this because I care, please stop with whatever foolishness you do in the East and go find someplace to be happy." Ruby said with her usual kind voice.

"Happy?" she said like it was some of holy object. "Don't you think I would like that? Don't you think I would like to do just that? Do something with my life that would have made Rick happy. But I ...i can't... . She took a long deep breath trying to reign in her emotions. "Every fucking time I close my eyes I... " She shook her head and pulled hand away and walked upstairs with lead in her boots.

Nash followed her, apologizing for Ruby's sake. But she didn't hear it. She gathered the stuff she had upstairs including the weapons Nash had retrieved for her, including her machetes. She went straight past Nash who said his goodbyes and welcomed her to come back anytime. She didn't glanced in the kitchen when she stormed out of the house and into the streets of Primm. She almost stopped when she realized she had forgotten to arrange a burial for Ashton.

Fuck it, he wasn't worth the trouble anyway.

How dare SHE! That fucking pretentious bitch! How could she know? She had fucking Nash to keep her warm every night. To comfort her when going went though. Her fruit of joy a nice ripe apple just read to be plucked. While hers was rotten to the core making a stench of everything she did.

She was approaching the NCR camp and the sergeant from the last time was still keeping watch. He was already standing at the ready to intercept her. He grabbed her left arm again, but this time she didn't have the patience to wait. She immediately raised her knee that hit his balls with a most deafening crunching sound, which she followed up with a elbow to the back. She didn't bother to wait for the response and walked straight into the tent.

The lieutenant Shot her a surprised look when she came walking inside the tent. "So that's what all the commotion is about." He took drag from his cigarette. "So, what can I do for you miss?"

"You can give me supplies and or caps for doing your fucking job."

He raised his eyebrow at the suggestion and gave a shrug. "I can pass along a request to ranger Jackson in Mojave outpost, but that's about it" he said in casual tone.

"Good enough, but first I need scissors and a razor"


	10. Chapter 9: When opportunity knocks

chapter 8 When opportunity knocks

 **AN:  
Okay so this chapter contains some exposition about the political situate back home in NCR territory. I want to avoid exposition as much as possible but there's no way to get around it with some points. The biggest of these being history. Like I said before I am changing things and I think people need to be aware of some of those changes.**

 _The Divide, about 8 years ago_

The deathclaw was standing in the opening of a cave adjutant to the clearing they both just had arrived at. It's was the second of three caves connecting to the clearing. The second one, and the deathclaw, were on her right while the third cave was on her left. She looked over her shoulder thinking about retreating back in the cave she came from. That wasn't without its risk. It had taken her quite a long time to travel to the cave with multiple ups and downs and as far as she could remember it all would be big enough to house the deathclaw.

She remembered from her mother's biology classes that deathclaws were first rate runners so unless she was planning to outrun a deathclaw, which she couldn't, it was suicide to run back in the cave. Which only left the other two caves and she doubted the deathclaw would let her pass into the cave he just had come from. Which only left her one option.

She leaped into a run over the small clearing. the deathclaw doing in the same with her as its target and letting out a roar as it leaped several feet forward into a run. Her eyes widened as she kept looking at the deathclaw and saw how fast the beast ran which was just ridiculous. She had barely set three steps as the beast was almost in striking distance.

She changed directions towards the a wall that was much closer. The deathclaw ran so fast it was almost in striking distance. It was already closing it's massive claws to whack her in half but she ran up the wall and pushed herself from it. She landed on the beast's freaking back of all things and rolled off all the while the deathclaw hit the wall with a loud 'thud' sound.

For a couple of seconds it looked like the deathclaw had killed itself by running into the wall. The wall had a small imprint of where it's head had hit the wall and the deathclaw itself looked to be out for the count. Then the freaking thing had started to stand up.

"shit shit shit shit flying fucking shit!"

She didn't wait and started running. She had just ran into the same tunnel she originally was going to go and didn't think twice. It was about a second after she had entered the tunnel that she heard a roar followed by the sound of running behind her. The tunnel, just like the previous one, one long tunnel without any branches except a couple of hideaways a baby would have trouble fitting into. The only thing that kept her alive were the twist and turns of the tunnel since it kept the deathclaw from building up momentum.

She kept running as she made yet another turn but she almost got an heart attack when she saw what the this part of the tunnel looked like. It was one long run towards a light at the end. That fucking thing would catch up in no time with no twist and turns. But she didn't have a choice it was run or die and she would be dammed if she wouldn't go out kicking.

She was about halfway through the tunnel when a figure appeared at the end of the tunnel. She scrambled to stop when she recognized it.

It was another deathclaw, a roar behind reminded her the first one hunting her.

"You have to be fucking kidding me!"

* * *

 _Mojave Outpost, Present_

Sharon the rose of Cassidy, also known as Cassidy, was not having a good week. Hell she wasn't having a good month. First her caravan got attacked by raiders and everyone that worked for her died. Then she decided to return the core regions of the NCR and maybe settle down. When she sobered up and realized how freaking stupid she was, she slapped herself into senses.

she wasn't the kind of girl to settle down, she belonged on the road, at every place a new lover and a nice cold whisky at the end of the day was all she needed. She decided then and there that she would go west, not to sit on her butt, but to rebuild her caravan company. That was the point that ranger Jackson told her she was in bureaucratic hell. She flipped a table when he told him that he had orders to "hold any caravans" until further notice. No explanation, nothing, jack and shit just a 'until further notice and a sorry for the inconvenience'.

She immediately longed for the days that the Divide route still existed. That route only took 10 days ,was in cool and safe tunnels instead of the month in the grueling sun of the wastes and which was despite the NCR's insistence, absolutely anything but save. But by far the absolute best thing about the Divide route was, **no** NCR bureaucratic bullshit. Just pay up, admittedly a high fee and you had a nice ride to the Mojave.

The other thing she felt was regret for voting for Kimball administration and their new improved rangers. She initially agreed with him that the Blunt's had done enough for the NCR cause and needed take a step back and let someone else that the reins of the NCR military. It didn't hurt he was for less taxes on caravans, and more taxation on shop owners inside NRC territory.

Nobody had actually expected what happened after Kimball got elected. She had toasted when Kimball won. But nobody had expected general Blunt's reaction along with that of every soldier in the 'Blunt regiment'. She, like every NCR citizen thought that the Blunt regiment was the pinnacle of the NCR military. Officially it was called the 'the first reaction regiment', but anyone besides bureaucrats called it the Blunt regiment. It was, and still is in most circle's, the symbol of patriotism and duty.

Again, officially any general could be given command of it, but as far as anyone knew only people related to the Blunt family has had command of the regiment. The one before the current general Blunt was a Blunt by marriage. General 'The shocker' Benedict, who had died about 10 years ago. Who had assaulted the Enclave oil rig along with chief Ajax of Arroyo. She remembered all the parades in his honor when he died. She couldn't help, but wonder how general Benedict would react to his son actions.

Apparently general Blunt did not take it well and quit, along with every soldier under his command, the hour after the announcement Kimball had won the election. She would have paid gold to see Kimball's face when he heard Blunt and his now personal army went to the hell hole called Baja to conquer it for the NRC.

She shook her trying to dispel the thoughts about general Blunt and his success in Baja. She had decided to try and rebuild her caravan company through traveling to Baja and selling her goods there, instead of this caravan Company oversaturated region. That's when the Crimson Caravan company came knocking offering her a big bag of caps for the name of Cassidy's caravan company. In her drunken haze and joy for the prospect of leaving this overcrowded outpost she forgot to read the details of her contract. Said details stated she wouldn't found another caravan company for the next five years, unless she wanted to pay the fine for the breach of contract.

She was beginning to see how her drinking might be a problem.

But Sharon the rose of Cassidy wasn't going to give up just because those stiff suits fucked her on a contract. Fortunately for her a opportunity arrived this last night in the form of a bald courier. Apparently super woman who now was sleeping on a cot next to her, with a hand under her pillow, obviously gripping a gun. she had killed over thirty to forty escaped prisoners single handedly. She always thought that courier company was full of hot air. Every courier she had met up that point talked a big talk but fell flat when you blew in their general direction.

This courier, Vicky if she heard right, was the real deal. It was funny to observe her for most of the evening. A couple of dozen soldiers visiting the bar all tried and failed to seduce her but she told them to get lost and kept drinking rum.

The courier was, if the distress she saw on her face was any indication, having a nightmare. That made her doubt her plan a little, but she needed the courier, which meant she didn't have a choice and hope for the best. At first she couldn't make out the names but the courier was progressively making more sounds. She could hear name's like big John, little John , Frank, Mickey and a Rick. This went in combination with increasing pale with made her worry in earnest.

By the third time she repeated the names she had enough and stood up. She grabbed her collar and gave her a shake, which immediately woke her up and reward her a 10 mm pointed at her face.

"You're welcome?" Cassidy, despite expecting it, squeaked out.

The courier, Vicky she reminded herself, looked at her like she was doubting between shooting her or going back to sleep or doing both. With one eye only halfway open and the other closed shut.

"wha you wan" she asked still dozy.

Deep calming breath Cassidy, she told herself. This isn't your first rodeo. "Hi I'm Cassidy, former owner of Cassidy caravans."

Her face twitched of annoyingness "nic ta meet ya, no fu off." she slurred. She put the gun back under the pillow and closed her eyes.

"I wasn't planning on talking to you before you woke up but you were spassiming in your sleep. So I thought it might be for best to wake you."

Vicky let out a long deep groan and opened her eyes and sat up in her cot. "You have any rum to go with this talk?" Cassidy smiled and pulled out the bottle of rum she had bough. She normally preferred whiskey but she had seen Vicky drink this the whole night.

Vick stretched her arms and proceeded to stand up and walk in the bar. She followed and asked the bartender for two glasses. She joined Vicky in the same dark corner she had sat the night before. She poured them both a generous amount and pushed one in Vicky's direction. They took a sip from the rum. She herself though it tasted way to sweet for as far as rum went. But Vicky quickly downed the rest of the glass and let out a satisfied "ah, that's the good stuff."

"Happy to hear you like it, so can we talk now?" she said trying to sound patient.

Vicky gave a shrug "you bought me a drink the least I can do is listen." She tried to take another swig of her glass but only then realized it was empty. She grabbed the bottle of rum and asked "Cassidy, right?"

"Yeah, it's actually Sharon the rose of Cassidy, but most people just call me Cassidy for short. You're called Vicky, right?" She gave a nod in conformation "So, why does a caravan owner want to talk to a courier?"

"Former caravan owner, I just got bought out by the Crimson Caravan Company with a none compete obligation of five years." Vicky winced at the none compete obligation "Well, that sucks so let me guess, you want to take up courier work now that you got jousted out the caravan businesses?"

She gave a nod "That's the idea at least, but I want to make the big caps not the change you toss to those so called couriers." She steeled her voice. "I'm planning on rebuilding my caravan company after the obligation expires."

Vicky finished her glass and look her directly in the eye, weighing her commitment. Cassidy looked right back not wavering to Vicky's death stare. It only lasted a couple of seconds before she took another sip of her drink. "Why come to me? I mean Primm is practically around the corner and the guy that can set you up is still alive."

"I'm sure he could, but he would just give me the low level work, right?"

Vicky gave her a small smile "True, but that is more or less for you own good. Most people that do the low level shit work are teenagers that want to travel, who's mommy and daddy won't or can't pay for their trip." She made a motion with her hand towards her. "And who's to say you're up to the real work? Do you have any idea what kind of terrain a courier like me is expected to cross to deliver a package?"

Cassidy grabbed the bottle and poured herself another drink and took a swig. "Yeah, places like the Divide and Baja, right?" Vicky look surprised for a moment. She brought her hand to her chin and looked to be finally taking her serious. "Okay, at the very least you know how stupid or suicidal you have to be take this job." Vicky gave a snort at sentence, probably because of some personal joke. "Have you actually crossed places like the Divide or Baja?"

"I have crossed the Divide twice with my caravan company. But that was through the trade route." She had to concede.

"Yeah, that a nice setup they had their. I never took the dam boat ride myself though, growing up in a desert means you don't learn to swim." She said taking a swig from her glass.

"Yeah, I had the same thing but it was that or take the long route." She and Vicky shared a smile. They both didn't talk for a couple of minutes both of them nursing their drinks. Cassidy spent the time thinking about Vicky's accent. Well, accent was a big word for it. She had, on rare occasion, dealt with Shady sands elite. They always had a stuck up high tone in their voice that told you they thought they were better than you. While Vicky's voice held the high tone, the amount of ego that filled every syllable wasn't anywhere near the level the regular Shady Sands elite had.

"So I gather from what you're telling me is that you want a recommendation from me?"

She gave a nod.

"The question is what do I get in return? If you aren't good enough for the real work it will reflect bad on me."

She was prepared for this, it would be sour for a couple of weeks at the very least but she needed to make sacrifices for her goals. "I'm prepared to offer my help in any jobs you might get in the near future up a half year if need be. If you think I'm not good enough by then, I'll take any job the courier company can give me."

Vicky gave her a sideways look, trying to figure out if she was serious. Then she stuck out her hand and said "You've got a deal, partner."


	11. Chapter 10: Popping a cherry

_Mojave Outpost, Present_

After Vicky had shaken her hand and they finalized their deal Vicky had informed her of her current job. She was surprised when Vicky had told her a package was stolen from her but also impressed when she told her how it had been stolen from her. _say what you will about the courier express they don't lack in dedication._ She had the feeling Vicky was testing her resolve. She also had the feeling this wouldn't be the last time Vicky would test her. Hell, she would be shocked if it was. They were currently waiting in the NCR headquarters in the Mojave Outpost. Apparently Vicky had made a deal with Major Knight to fix her gear and give her a reward of some kind for killing the criminals in Primm.

"So here it miss." Major Knight said with his soft and kind voice. 'It' was a good as new service rifle. She was surprised by the amount of weapons Vicky carried with her. "And of course two revolvers, one 10 mm service issue hand gun and two machetes. And as a icing on the cake three munitions block for the service rifle and three hand grenades."

"Thank you Major, I'll be sure to kill a couple of legionnaires for you." Knight gave them a smile. "Hey don't worry about it, just make sure you deliver that package for me." The hell? Why did a NCR quartermaster need a package delivered by a courier? This was the location from where all letters were sent to and from the Mojave so he shouldn't need one. Vicky put all the weapons in their holsters and threw the service rifle over her shoulder.

"No worries Major, I'll make sure she get's the letter." The Major gave them another smile and waved for the next one in line to move forward. Vicky walked out of the building and walked to the edge of the camp and leaned against a wall.

"So what was that about?" Vicky gave her a look that told her she shouldn't have asked. With a chiding voice she said. "I have to deliver a letter for Major Knight to a certain person in a certain place, that should be obvious."

"I get that but why the hell would he need you to deliver anything?" Vicky gave a shrug. "I don't know, I don't care. So long I get paid Ill deliver anything anywhere." Vicky's head shot up and pushed herself from the wall to follow a NCR patrol. "That's the company line by the way." She said like a teacher talking to a child.

She took a deep breath and a sip from her whiskey. If Vicky was going to scold her like that for six months she would need more whisky. They were not far behind the NCR patrol that was making their way to Nipton. The NCR patrol consisted out of five privates if she remembered the NCR insignia's correctly.

"tell me: how important do you think it is for the client to be anonymous?" Vicky asked on a serious tone.

She pondered the question for a moment. She guessed it was kind of important but the tone Vicky was using gave her the idea it was life or death. "I would guess essential?"She answered unsure. Vicky gave a nod. "Being anonymous is a matter of life or death for some people. Do you remember the whole scandal around general Hale two years ago?" Vicky said in a neutral voice.

She had resist the urge to puke at the mention of the whole thing. "Yeah, I do but what does that have to do with the couriers?" She said with disgust.

"Well, I am pretty sure that the whole scandal was made possible by the fact that a courier or two fucked up and got killed with his or her package intact. That or he or she got greedy and sold it to the highest bidder." They were making their way now over the road between the dried up lakes full of huge ants and scorpions. The things were apparently content with not attacking everything that moved over the road for once. But that didn't mean no one was paying attention if they did.

"So wait a minute, It's completely possible ill be delivering degusting things like that!" she said with utter disgust.

Vicky turned towards her, with a hint of approval she said "If you don't like you can just work in Legion territory like I used to do."

He faced when slack out of surprise."What kind of work is there to find in Legion territory? Doesn't the Legion have their messengers and what not? " She figured there were some independent villages in Legion territory , but not to the extend they needed couriers.

Vicky gave her a coy smile. "Well, you know how the Legion doesn't allow any kind of modern medicine? Most people don't think long about the risk of the Legion finding out . " Vicky's gave a thoughtful look towards the dried up lakes. "Though It is kind of selfish."

Cassidy just a raised eyebrow. "It's selfish to want to live?" She asked perplexed.

Vicky gave a shrug. "it is when the Legion kills the whole village for the one person breaking the law. Well, they kill the men. The woman and children get enslaved." She said as a afterthought.

"dam" was the only response she could give.

They walked a little more before she came up with the question "what do you actually tell the Legion you're doing in their territory?" Vicky mouth formed a small smile. "Guess." Vicky said amused.

Cassidy looked straight at Vicky who just kept her amused face on. "Uh, you tell them it isn't any of their fucking businesses?" Vicky chuckled and shock her head. "Wrong, keep trying and maybe ill write your recommendation early." They kept walking without Vicky giving any further explanation on what exactly she told the legionnaires. She pondered the question. Was Vicky going to do this with every little thing? Ask vague impossible questions and actually expect a good answer. She took another sip of her bottle.

She most defiantly was going to need more whisky.

They kept walking for a couple of minutes until they started seeing smoke rise from the town. She heard a groan from Vicky's direction. She had her palm in her face and was muttering something like "me and my big mouth." Vicky shook her head a couple of times. She turned towards her and had a annoyed face as well as tone in her voice. "Well apparently the whole fucking route has gone to shit." Vicky grabbed her hip with one hand and pinched her nose with the other. "Maybe it's an idea to risk going through to fiend territory."

Cassidy blinked a couple of times. "You don't know?" She asked surprised. Vicky looked up towards her. She had a bitter smile on her face obviously knowing whatever that came out Cassidy's mouth wouldn't be good news. "What should I know?" She asked reluctantly. Cassidy let out a bitter laugh. "A couple of days ago group of Deathclaws made Sloan their nest." Vicky let her head drop on her neck and let out a helpless cry. Vicky's head snapped back and she pulled out the service rifle. Vicky's voice was steel when she said "Okay take out your weapon, we are going to fuck up whatever the fuck thought it was smart to fuck with my route!" She said like whoever attacked Nipton did it to stop her.

Vicky marched on a brisk pace. In the meantime Cassidy wondered something. "How didn't know about Sloan, anyway? I mean it was like the talk of the bar?" Vicky gave her a glare and irritated said "I was too busy ignoring the fucking idiot on the other side of the bar." her voice full of annoyance and anger. She thought a moment, but 'the idiot' was kind of vague, especially for that bar. "Which one exactly?" She asked trying not to get nervous about the propel able fight coming.

Vicky didn't answer instead she went on one knee and pointed her rifle in the direction town. She did the same although she doubted it would work with a shotgun. She saw five vague figures slowly approaching them. It didn't take long for her to see it was the NCR patrol they were following earlier. Vicky lowered her gun and approached the group. They didn't lower their guns initially, but as they got closer the guns went lower.

"Well hello ladies." The soldier at the front said. Vicky let out a groan. Hey was young, maybe twenty. He had a small mustache and a light brown skin. "Sergeant." Vicky clipped in with obviously anger. "Why the fuck aren't you securing the town?" The sergeant did a double take on Vicky's tone. He put on a fake smile and said with absolute conviction "The town's lost ma'am and the legionnaires aren't gone anyway so it's not safe yet to secure." Before she knew it Vicky had smacked the sergeant with the backend of rifle. The sergeant fell to the ground and his fellow soldiers raised the rifles pointing towards Vicky and her.

Oh shit, Cassidy though. She was going to die because of this insane bitch. Instead of lowering her rifle Vicky just talked at the soldiers like she owned them. "Listen up men, are you soldiers or pussies. A soldier doesn't allow his enemy to give a party on the corpses of his brothers and sisters!" The soldiers looked at each other obviously not knowing what to do. It was now that she noticed all of were just boys, not hardened soldiers. The sergeant was slowly standing up, obviously dizzy and in no state to give orders. "I promise you boys, this won't be the last village if you don't stop it."

"Bitch!"The sergeant said, finally standing up right. He pointed his rifle towards Vicky's head. "You want to lead my boys into a death trap? Are you insane?" the sergeant said full anger. Vicky just walked forward until her head was touching the barrel. "NO, you sack of shit, I am keeping to my principals! Unlike you ! who preaches the whole fucking night that the NCR doesn't need the Blunt family! BUT runs at the first opportunity he gets!"

It finally clicked which 'idiot' Vicky meant.

The sergeant was flabbergasted. He lowered the gun a little out of surprise. Vicky took the chance to push the rifle to the side followed by punching the sergeant in the face. The sergeant went down immediately. He looked to be out for the count. The other soldiers likely still had their rifles raised, still not knowing what to do. Vicky just casually put her right hand on her hip. "Now boys, you have two chooses. Either you pick up your sack of shit sergeant and fuck off." She gave them all a look. "Or you go with me, kick the Legion in the ass and avenge your fellow soldiers."

Cassidy couldn't believe it. Did Vicky really believe this shit would work? One of the soldiers lowered his rifle and threw the sergeant over his shoulders. He started walking back towards the Mojave outpost.

His friends weren't following, they still had their guns pointed at them.

"Guys come on, let's leave them be and report back to base!" the soldier shouted/ordered. The other three actually looked conflicted. The middle one lowered his gun and shook his head. "You go Jimmy, I'll get revenge for our guys." The one on his right looked at him like he was crazy and was quick to join Jimmy. The other one, who looked a lot like the middle one stayed as well. "You're both crazy, the guys upstairs will hang you both!"

And they were gone.

Vicky gave a satisfied smile. "Good, nice to see that the NCR actually has soldiers with balls." she said with approval in her voice. The soldiers looked at each other, obvious conflicted about the situation. The one in the middle spoke with nervousness in his voice. "Ma'am, we have to be honest, we are doing this because our brother was in Nipton. We were supposed to visit him." The soldiers said with a hint of fear in his voice.

Vicky approached the soldiers and lay a hand on his shoulder. "Your reasons don't matter, private. What matters is that you have the courage to stand up against the enemy." She said with obvious respect towards the soldiers. "Thank you, ma'am" the soldiers said in unison. Vicky turned towards her glaring at her. "So, Cassidy, you going to join us or are you running back to Mojave Outpost?" It sounded more like a challenge then a question. She looked over her shoulder. It was either go back to a save life of...whatever she choose to do. She looked forward. Or join a madwoman on a journey that would kill her if she wasn't careful.

Vicky looked her in the eye, her hands on the shoulders of the soldiers. "Choose Cassidy, because I'm not going to force you." She patted the shoulders of the back. "Come on men, there are legionnaires in need of killing." She turned around and started walking towards Nipton.

Cassidy looked back and forth between behind and in front of her. "I am going to regret this." she said with frustration and ran after Vicky.

* * *

Vicky heard the sound of someone running after her and grinned with satisfaction. She didn't know anything about Cassidy, but if she turned away at the first sign of danger she would be worthless to her. She looked to her right and left. Both boys, and she couldn't call them anything then boys, looked deathly pale. "So what are you names, soldiers?" she said trying to sound nice. That shook them out of their reverie. The blinked a couple of times and answer like they weren't sure of anything. "Bill ma'am, my brother on your left is Will, he isn't that talkative." She heard a grunt from her left. They were almost at the edge of the town. "Okay have you two seen any action besides that..." This wasn't the time to insult NCR training. "I mean basis training?" Bill meekly shook his head. She turned towards Will who shook his head as well. She couldn't say she was surprised, but didn't show it on her face. Her grandfather always told her to keep your face as blank as a canvas. She put a small comforting smile on her face and addressed the boys. Her voice was kind but stern "Okay, no worries, everyone needs to pop their cherry sometime." The boys put up a small smile, but they still looked miserable. "Just remember your basis training and everything should be fine. When the legionnaires charge us, aim for their legs. The rest of their bodies are armored. It won't kill them, but it will keep them from being a threat. If it comes to melee combat, let me handle it. You guys just retreat and keep firing the fuckers."

They were in the town now. She saw multiple dead bodies and burning buildings. The boys leapt forward to check the bodies, but she stopped them by holding their shoulders. They turned towards her, the question on their faces. "Our priority is killing the enemy, after that we will look your brother." They nodded. They made their way to the first building. She saw multiple crosses on the road. Some of them with people on them. She heard a sound behind her. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Bill trying to keep his food in. Will wasn't much better, he had gone from deathly pale to piss green. Cassidy had a face of disgust on her face, but no physical reaction to the crucifixion.

She raised her eyebrow. Maybe she had underestimated the simple caravan owner? She made a mental note to ask Cassidy about all her experiences traveling the wastes. She pointed towards the binoculars Will was carrying and he gave it to her. She looked around the corner. Using the binoculars she could clearly see a group of legionnaires, along with a freaking frumentarii standing on the town hale terrace . She could feel her heart beating harder in excitement. YES!

She turned towards the group. All of them had recovered slightly. She put her best commanding voice. "Okay guys, I'm estimating between thirty to fifthly legionnaires." They all look worried at the number. "Hey don't worry, we will get through this. " They all took a deep breath stealing themselves against the challenge ahead. "What's the plan, ma'am?" Will asked with a tint of nerves in his voice.

She nodded her head towards the building they were standing next to. "Were going to climb this house, jump to the end of the street , start shooting and throwing grenades." She put service rifle back over her shoulder. "If we're lucky the majority will be dead before they know what hit them." They all looked a little more hopeful.

She climbed the house first. After that the brothers helped Cassidy climb up, after that bill and finally she and Bill helped up Will. They made their way towards the town hale slowly and quietly. The legionnaires were busy with something. They were standing in a half circle in front of town hale. The frumentarii was holding something in his hand. She didn't see what he was holding. When they reached the third building she saw what was happening.

They were holding a lottery.

They weren't done yet, and the frumentarii was "and now my glories legionnaires we will sacrifice another profligates to mars!" bragging. The legionnaires cheered, she could almost smell the blood lust coming from them. They had in fear quivering people sitting in front of them, all of them on their knee's their hands bonded behind their backs.

This was wrong.

Legionnaires and especially frumentarii greatest weapon was discipline. this, this was just plain out savagery. Than the realization hit her. She had bite her lip to stop the laughing. She turned towards her group, trying to keep the joy from her face and voice. "This is going be far easier than I though." They gave her a skeptical look. She heard another cheer an saw that they were preparing to behead another person. She narrowed her eyes. It was a man in NCR gear.

She pulled out her hand grenades. Pushed on into each of the brothers hands. "Will, you do the left, Bill the middle, Ill do the right part of the circle." She said trying to stay calm. She was pretty sure her face was red of anger. "Cassidy, shoot anything in the face that tries to climb up. We will do the rest." she growled out.

The NCR soldier was struggling against the Legionnaires. "Prepare hand grenade." The struggling didn't help. "On three throw. One." The soldiers was pushed onto the box. "Two" One of the Legionnaires made his way towards the block with a machete. "Three!"

Her grenade landed perfectly in the face of a legionnaire. The grenade that Will and Bill's grenades landed slightly off course, a step or two away from the group of Legionnaires. The frumentarii looked up to them, his sunglasses not hiding his expression of horror. Bill, Will and she pulled out their service rifle. The frumentarii yelled out to his soldiers, but it was too late.

The grenades went off. A good two thirds of the group was either killed instantly or serious wounded by the grenades. To her joy the wall of Legionnaires prevented the prisoners from getting hurt. For a couple of moments everything was quite. Legionnaires not knowing what to do, the frumentarii stood frozen. She smiled in pure satisfaction. "FIRE!" The prisoners ducked to the ground to avoid the gun fire. Some of the Legionnaires started to charge at them, but it was useless.

It was a massacre.

She fired at the one closet to her joined by Will and Bill. The legionnaires charged at them but got picked down by the gun fire. That didn't mean they didn't have a fighting chance though. After about ten seconds all three of them were out of ammo, with about twenty legionnaires left. They all charged. They jumped, reaching the edge of the roof. Cassidy quickly moved past them and over the edge of the roof. Just as a legionnaire head reached the roof Cassidy fired, his head being blown off. A moment later.

Cassidy quickly moved back, just as her rifle was ready again. She quickly look to her right and left. Bill wasn't even halfway through reloading, and will was even more behind. Both their faces was full of fear. Their hands were shaking as well. She quickly shoved her service rifle in Cassidy's hands. Cassidy dropped her shotgun on the roof and started shooting legionnaires. She pulled out her revolvers.

Ten legionnaires came up at the same time followed by five more a moment later. She could hear Cassidy firing. She focused on the legionnaires that were climbing on the front side of the building. She aimed straight in front of and shot the legionnaire in front of her. She moved her hands in opposite directions. Opening fire as she went.

The first shot with her right hit one legionnaire in arm, which made him fall to the ground. The one her left missed, and the legionnaire was free to continue climbing the building. The second and third shot on her right hit a legionnaire, the first in the shoulder, the second one in the head. The second shot or her left missed again, but the third one hit a shoulder. All the shoots after that missed because she had to rush for the legionnaires that were drawing their weapons.

She quickly put the revolvers back in her belt revolver and drew her machetes. The first legionnaire came from her left. His swings were slow and clumsy, like expected not like a prober legionnaire. He swung his machete for her head, which she dodged by lowering her head. She took a step to the right. He made another slash with his machete this time aiming for her chest. She blocked it with her own machete. She could see the fear in his face for the other machete in her right hand. Instead she took a step, giving her enough room to round house kick him in the face. It had the desired effect propelling him into the other legionnaires that had just climbed up, followed by them falling of the building. She turned around seeing Bill on the ground, a legionnaire standing over him with his machete raised in the air.

She immediately threw her machete towards the legionnaire. The legionnaire brought down his machete. It slowly made its way towards Bill's skull. Bill was trying to move away, but he wouldn't be fast enough. Just before the machete that would kill Bill reached him, her machete reached the legionnaire. The machete hit the legionnaire right in the face, throwing him back and off the roof.

She quickly scanned the root. Two legionnaires had just reached the top of the roof, who just realized they were the only ones left. Will had his service rifle pointed at them. She sighed. Will should have shot them already, doubting in these moments could get people killed easily. She pulled out her grandfathers 10 mm. She pointed in towards the legionnaires. "NO WAIT!" the legionnaires screamed, but she fired anyway. Their dead bodies fell to the ground with a soft thud.

She walked over to Will, who still was frozen. She yanked the rifle out of his arm, which shook him awake. He looked up to her with a sense of shame in his eyes. Wordlessly she put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a well deserved nod of approval. Will and Bill had acted like prober soldiers to day as far as she was concerned. She walked over to the edge of the roof and saw the legionnaires she had kicked off the roof. They were making sounds of pain and were slowly working their way up to a standing position. She whistled down to them. The legionnaires looked up, confusion and fear on their faces. She emptied the service rifle on them showing no mercy. She turned around and gave the rifle back to Will.

"So" she said with a cheery voice. She pulled out a cigarette, put it in her mouth and light it. She took a long deep take of her cigarette. She breathed out and asked"How was it for you guys?" She asked with satisfaction dripping out of her voice.

 **AN:  
** **Please review!**


	12. Chapter 11: Aftermath

_Nipton, Present_

Will and Bill we're the first off the roof, running towards the prisoners. Vicky herself was taking her time finishing her cigarette. She was looking over the carnage, searching for any possible threat. Cassidy stood on her right, holding her service rifle, waiting for Vicky to grab it.

"So" Vicky said with a tint of a smile in her voice. Cassidy's face was full of resentment. "So what?" Cassidy asked in patiently. "Do you think you're going to last the full six months?" Cassidy made humph sound. "I don't have a choice do I?" She said full resentment. Her voice was light when she responded, making sure to keep judgment out of her voice. "You actually do." She blew out what smoke. "But now you actually know what I'm about."

In the corner of her eye she could see that Cassidy was taken aback. "What your about?!" She said with anger. "Hurting a NCR soldier, just because his politics aren't the same as yours! Running into a situation with no idea what we're facing! That's what your about?" Cassidy said with obvious anger.

She just gave a shrug.

Down on the ground she saw Bill and Will hugging someone, with obvious relief on their faces. She let out a deep breath and turned towards Cassidy. With conviction she said "What I'm about Cassidy, is that I do what I think is best. Legion or NCR, dangerous or safe." She pointed towards Bill and Will and the other survivors. "You can see the result right there, about twenty people alive because I did what I thought was best." She grabbed the rifle out of Cassidy hand. "Now Cassidy, you can either follow me and deal with it, or fuck of and spend the next five years running errands for a couple of caps." Cassidy's face twitched out of anger a couple of times. They kept staring at each other for what felt like hours. Finally Cassidy turned away. "Fine" Cassidy said with anger. "No wonder you support the Blunt's you're as fucking self righteous as they are." Vicky frowned at the comment. Full with resentment she said "Their not self righteous Cassidy, they just know what's best." She turned away before Cassidy could roll her eyes at her. She climbed off the building, she made her way to the frumentarii and put her boot on his wounded leg.

That was followed by a groan. She smiled, the frumentarii were always useful tools to gain information. "Ma'am" She looked to her right, where Will stood, with a unsure expression on his face. "What is it, Will?". In the back she could see Bill helping their brother and the other survivors on to the stairs and giving them water. Some of the prisoners weren't released yet. Which she thought strange until she saw their clothing. Powder gangers... She cringed. _Why couldn't the legionnaires kill them instead of the soldiers?_

She was about to tell him to execute the powder gangers when he spoke. "There are still wounded legionnaires, ma'am."He looked back and forth between her and the wounded legionnaires "What should...we do...with them." He asked obvious knowing what needed to happen, but not wanting to admit it. She looked around counting the still moving legionnaires. She let a tired sigh. "I'll take care of it, go help the survivors."

Under her boot the frumentarii groaned again. "Hello scum, awake?" She pressed harder and the frumentarii sat up in pain. "Get off me profligates!" the frumentarii screamed, his voice full of pain. He made a move to grab her but she pulled out her machete and threatened him with it. "Now now," she said on a mocking tone "we don't want anyone to get hurt." The frumentarii studied her, weighing his options. She waited for a reaction instead the frumentarii leaned back, supporting himself with his arms, waiting for her to say or do something.

In a hushed whisper she said "I would like to make a deal, your life, in exchange for information." He looked at her with suspicion. Glancing back and forth between her and the survivors. She put up a grin "I'm in charge her, I decide who lives and dies."

His right eyebrow twitched a couple of time. "Ask" he grunted out. She let out a vicious grin, she absolute loved the Legion's growing inability to install absolute discipline into their people. Before she asked her question she activated the record mode on her pip-boy. "Your name, the frumentarii you answer to and everything you know about high frumentarii Octavian."

He raised his eyebrow at the mention of Octavian. His voice was firm and proud "My name is Gabban, I answer to Cato Hostilius. I don't know anything about the Blunt killer." It was now that she actually bothered to actually look at him. He was surprisingly young for a frumentarii . "Where is he now." she asked on a leveled tone, not expecting a concrete answer. He shook his head. "I don't know." she frowned despite expecting the answer. "Do you know of any other attacks planned in the neighborhood?" He shook his head again, but he had a small twitch in his eye as he said "I was only instructed to attacked Nipton with the men I was assigned, most of the preparations were already completed when I was informed of the plan. " She frowned, _bullshit._ She increased the weight on his wound. Gabban screamed "awh, stop it stop it, please!" she leaned a little less and put her machete against his throat. She put as much menace in her voice as possible, "Bullshit, Gabban, you must know something." Gabban pursued his lips, sweat clearly going over his face. "It isn't in the region, but I might have overheard something." She brought the machete a little closer. "Talk!" she demanded.

Doubt and reluctance still covered his face. She pressed her machete a little closer, just enough to draw blood. She went on one knee and brought his face to hers. She growled out "Listen Gabban, you already failed. Tell me, do you have any idea how the burned man got his nickname?" Gabban gritted his teeth and nodded. "Well guess what, from what I hear he was best buddies with Caesar before he was burned alive. And if you don't give something I can deliver you to a group of legionnaires to bring you back home, just in time for your roast." she said with glee.

His mouth opened in horror, his voice desperate "No no, please no." He shook his head a couple of times obvious struggling against something. "Camp McCarren." he said in a whisper. She narrowed her eyes. As far as she knew camp McCarren was to heavily fortified to be even considered attacking. "Explain!" she growled. "I overheard Vulpes talking over the radio, he mentioned plans about Camp McCarren, that's everything I swear!" she narrowed her eyes, that was too vague to be of any use, but she believed the miserable fuck. She raised her hand and hit him in the face with the hilt of her machete, he was out cold in one hit. She stood up and looked around, and sighed. She still had the legionnaires to deal with.

She took a long deep breath, She pulled out her revolver and started reloading it. She walked over to the closest legionnaire. She used her foot to roll the Legionnaire on his back. The legionnaire was breathing heavily, with sweat dripping from his head. He raised a gun, but she kicked it away before he could take aim. "Too bad" she said with a disinterest voice. She aimed her revolver for the head and fired. The next fifteen minutes was pretty much the same. Some begged for mercy, some died with the words "DIE profligates!" on their lips. It was grim work, but someone had to do it.

After she was done executing the legionnaires she moved towards the group. Bill, Will and Cassidy were helping the survivors to the best of their ability. "So, how is everything going." She asked in a tone that expected an answer. "We're doing fine, ma'am." One of the survivors said. It was a man dressed in a NCR lieutenant uniform. The man slowly stood up, Will and Bill giving him a look full of worry. "My name.. is Dan, ma'am." The man struggled to say. He reached out his hand which she took. His grip was still strong, she nodded she respect "You must be Will and Bill's brother." She said on a somewhat familiar tone. He gave a small, but strained smile. "Is their mother-henning that obvious." he said jokingly.

She gave a small snort at the reply. "A bit." she teased "But your face looks the same." Indeed, he had the same strong jaw as his brothers, his forehead was a bit smaller in comparison. He also had the beginning of a beard unlike his baby faced brothers.

He gave a small smile. "So ma'am, do you have a plan to get back to the Mojave Outpost, because I'm fairly sure not everyone will make the attempt if we do." Indeed, the lieutenant wasn't the only one wounded. Add to that they had to keep a eye on the powder gangers. She blew out a breath, "I think it's smart to just send one person back and arrange a escort back." She waved at the powder gangers. "I for one don't want to risk my life with those criminals." Dan gave her a nod, his voice was becoming strained from standing up the whole time. "I agree, but who do we send?" He made a gesture towards the other survivors. "We can't make the run, and frankly I don't want to risk sitting here without you guys protecting us." The lieutenant sat back on the steps, his face full relief. His brother didn't pounce on him, but they still had their eyes on him.

She gave a shrug. "There isn't much choice in the matter. Bill, do you think you can make it back to Mojave outpost?"Bill gave a quick nod. He quickly retrieved his service rifle and left for the Mojave Outpost. She walk over to the prisoners checking the restraints. When she was happy that they wouldn't get loose anytime soon she turned towards Cassidy and Will.

"I'm going to explore the ruins a bit, maybe there are other survivors around." _or supplies she thought._ Cassidy exchanged glances with Will, her voice sounded worried as she said "What about more attacks?" She waved the concerns away. "If the Legion had more troops around they already would have attacked." She turned around and walked to the first building.

* * *

 _The Divide, about 8 years ago_

"SHIT!" she screamed in panic. She looked around in the cave up and down, left and right for a hole she could hide in.

And found nothing.

"No, no, I am nothing going to die here!" she screamed. She looked in front of her the deathclaw was not looking at her. It roared "RWAR!" Her legs were shaking. Then another roar sounded from behind "RAWR!" That did it, and she fell to her knees.

 _She was going to die..._

"No" she said desperately. "Not like this." Another "RAWR!" She looked up, the deathclaw took what looked like a fighting stance. She looked over her shoulder, the other deathclaw had taken the same position.

 _What were they doing? She wasn't a threat, she couldn't possibly kill a deathclaw, let alone two._

Then it hit her.

They were preparing to fight over who ate her...

Something snapped inside her, she hadn't been this angry since her father had forbidden her seeing Jessica again. They were dismissing her...treating her like she wasn't even there...

She lifted her arm as the deathclaw's postured and roared. Her hand shook so hard she could barely grip her grandfathers 10 mm. She saw the deathclaw take a step forward and heard the other one do the same.

She gritted her teeth, her legs were still wobbly. She slowly put a foot down on the ground. Despite her effort she still sounded weak "I am not going to here, you filthy lizards" With great effort she stood up. She lifted her arm, it shook like a earthquake as she lifted it in the direction of the deathclaw in front of her. She used her another arm to support it. "RAWR" it roared again, she didn't know if it was aimed against her or not but she didn't care.

She took a deep breath. "I am..." she took another breath. "Victoria Blunt, " a swallow. her voice became more certain "Daughter of General Marcus Blunt and Francisca , granddaughter of general "the shocker" Benedict and Gloria Blunt." She liked her lips. "and I am going to kill both of you!" she almost snorted to herself. _Yeah right, you will be lucky if leave a scar Victoria._

She started to run, the deathclaws leapt in a run as well. She squeezed the trigger, she would be lucky to spend all her bullets before she was cut in half.

"BANG, BANG, BANG"

Three bullets spend, three bullets wasted. The bullets didn't even bother the deathclaw.

Then a miracle happened.

"BANG, BANG, BANG"

The first shot hit its cheek, it didn't flinch, the second just above where its eyebrow would be.

The third, oh the third, hit it right in the eye.

 _Oh yes, oh yes._

But the deathclaw didn't fall, instead it flinched to the left. There was a small gap now, it barely could be called that.

But it gave her a fighting chance. She jumped into the gap, as she jumped through the gap she looked behind her. The other deathclaw was only a hair removed from her boots with its claws. She couldn't help but laugh. "HAHAHA, I live bitches!" she mocked the deathclaws.

Then the other deathclaw flinched back and smashes her into the wall.

The air was smacked out of her, then she felt to the ground next to the deathclaw. Then she hit her head against the ground.

It was black for a couple of moments. She heard sounds of claws scraping against something. She lifted her head and opened her eyes. She blinked a couple of times and saw what was happening. She was laying next to one of deathclaws.  
Her eyes bulged out her sockets from panic, but then she saw the deathclaws were fighting each other. She breathed out relief, then she felt something coming from her mouth. She placed her fingers on her mouth and looked it.

It was blood.

"he he" _not good, not good_ she thought desperately _._ A "RAWR" from both the deathclaws. The Deathclaw next to her moved his foot towards her. Despite the pain going through her whole body, she rolled under the foot. She was laying on her back now, under the deathclaw. She gritted her teeth, with great effort she put her grandfathers 10 mm back into her pants.

She turned onto her belly and started to crawl. Her arms and legs ached, but the worst was her chest ,which felt like something was drilling there. her head felt like it weighed a ton. The deathclaw moved around left to right, making her panic. _Admit Victoria, you're dead._ But she kept crawling. She hard to pull herself through the opening between the Deathclaw's foot and tail. She gripped the things leg, making it growl out, while it fought the other one. As she pulled she thought she might lack the strength, her body not moving forward. "Come on, your bad mouthed bitch you can do this!" she said to herself. She gritted her teeth, _never give up!_ her grandfather screamed to her in her mind. She used her foot to push herself toward, "AH!" and she shot forward. She closed her eyes, the pain flowing through her whole body. _Come on, you can do it!_

"AGH" she let as she pulled herself out. She barely fit through the gap. "fuck..." she let out with utter exhaustion. She looked behind her, the deathclaws were still clawing at each other, roaring as they went. She look forward again, she put her left hand forward and put her right next to her and pushed.

She looked up to the light at the end of the tunnel.

A tall figure stood at the end of the tunnel. Her mouth fell open, full shock she said "no, no, I'm not ready yet." The figure started walking towards her. "No grandpa, please no, I'm not ready to die." she said in a meek voice.

The figure stopped in front of her and then everything went black.

* * *

 _Nipton, Present_

"pff" She let out. She didn't know how much time had passed since Bill had left but she was worried that he might have died on the way. She glanced around. Cassidy and Will were still helping everyone as best they could. She had offered to help, but they refused, saying they didn't need the help.

She jumped at the ready when she saw NCR soldiers round the corner. They all had their guns at the ready, at the front was ranger Jackson, with his big hat, big sunglasses and big mustache. He looked to be the only that wasn't horrified at the sigh.

The ranger calmly walked over to them, left to him, to her grimace, was sergeant douche bag. The sergeants had a ugly scar on his cheek from her hitting her with her rifle. On his right was Bill, grinning ear to ear.

She took a casual stance, she looked behind her. All the NCR soldiers were, or at least trying to, to stand in salute. When the group reached them the sergeant was the first to speak "This is her ranger Jackson, she was the one that knocked me out."

She tsked him. "oh please, you needed some sense knocked into you." his face turned blood red of rage. She grinned in response. The ranger coughed a couple of times. His voice was firm, but had a sense of kindness to it. "Sergeant Rodriguez, go help the wounded." The sergeant turned towards rangers Jackson in shock. His voice was whinny "But, but, she assaulted a NCR soldier." the ranger turned towards him with a snort. His voice was fierce "I said help the wounded, sergeant." the sergeant growled, but walked past her helping the wounded.

The ranger turned towards her, crossing his arm, obvious not looking forward to this conversation. "ma'am, do you have any idea what the fuck your doing?" he deadpanned. She grinned. "Yeah, kicking Legion ass." he frowned, obvious not liking her response. He sighed, pinching his nose.

His voice was full of reluctance "Listen, hitting a NCR soldier isn't something I can ignore" he glanced around. "But, you did save a couple of my guys. I'll give you a pass this time, but do me a favor, and continue on your way." he said as he pointed towards the road out of Nipton.

She nodded in understanding. She pulled out the recording from her interrogation of Gabban and threw it over to him. His face moved in surprise. "That is a recording from my talk with the frumentarii lying behind you." Jackson turned around, looking at Gabban. He quickly started ordering his troops, and forgot her. She turned around grabbed her backpack and said to Cassidy "let's go"

 **AN: So the first peek of how Cassidy's relationship with Vicky will be, what do you guys think?**


	13. Chapter 12: God is a dj

_The road to Novac, present_

Well this was shitty. They were just two steps out of Nipton and she already saw a potential fight coming up. She pulled another cigarette out of her pocket, she glanced at Cassidy. "So, you know anything about the bandits here." Cassidy gave her a nod. "Yeah, I had to pay them on the way here. About a hundred caps a person. Or if you're a woman." she moved her hand to her body.

She gave a nod in acknowledgement. These bandits were pretty smart, Two high rock formation on both sides, almost no cover besides a toppled bus. They calmly kept walking, as they walked up the road she started seeing the actual raiders. "How many do you count Cassidy?" She asked on neutral tone. Cassidy gave her a panicked look "You have to be shitting me! You're going to try and kill everything that we find?" she asked in panic.

She grinned back at Cassidy. "Nah, but I want to know how good you are at spotting." Cassidy gave her a unconvinced look, and pulled out her shotgun, but didn't raise it. Cassidy made a show of looking around. "I would say...about twenty, maybe twenty five." Vicky light her cigarette. "Well, you got the majority at least, I counted another ten at the start of the road." She grinned, "which means they know how much ass we kicked just now." Cassidy gave her a bewildered look. When the rounded the corner they could see three guys atop of the road. Two of them were just wearing jeans and shirts. The third stood in big metal bulky armor, he wore a metal helmet on his head and his face was hidden under a hockey mask.

They calmly approached. The one in the metal armor gave Cassidy a sideways look. "Well Hello there." she said almost sounding kind. The one in metal gave turned his gaze towards her. He had a rough voice, like sandpaper "One hundred caps a person, or " he made motions with his hands towards them "you can make a payment in kind." She nodded her head no immediately. She made a show of slowly pulling her backpack from her back, she dropped in front of her. She slowly put her hands into the backpack, as she did that the sound of about thirty weapons being armed could be heard in unison.

She glanced up to the metal bandit, he had crossed his arms. He made no threat, none were needed. She rummaged through her backpack, looking for the bags of caps. Nonchalantly she said "You know, Cassidy, you are way too tense. Do you smoke?" Cassidy gave her a bewildered look. "wa wh what?" Cassidy responded. "You are way too tense, do you have anything too, you know, relief stress or whatever?" She finally founds the caps. She slowly pulled her hands out of the backpack, when her hand was out of the backpack the metal guy raised his hands to catch it. She threw the two bags. He made a show of looking into the bags and then went out of the way. When he did Cassidy let out a breath out of relief.

They quickly made their ways past the bandits, she tsked when she saw the fortifications the bandits had. "Now that just pisses me off." she said on a neutral tone. All the tension that had left Cassidy immediately returned on her face. "Come on Vicky, they still got their guns pointed towards us." Cassidy pleaded. She gave Cassidy a questioning look. "What do you mean I just...oh...you think I'm going to attack the bandits?" Cassidy nodded vigorously in response. "I see" she said trying not to sound insulted. She shook her head a couple of times. She pointed towards the fornications."See those towers and sandbags? Cassidy gave a quick nod. "Well, I am willing to bet my left arm that was all built by the NCR, meaning they abandoned this place."

Before Cassidy could respond the continued to walk, she could rant and rave all she wanted, but it wouldn't get her closer to Vegas. When she set the first step forward her sight blurred, she felt unstable and stumbled, only to be caught by Cassidy. "You okay?" Cassidy said genuinely sounding worried. She brought her hands to her mouth and wiped something away on her face. When she inspected her hand she saw blood. She heard Cassidy curse under her breath but she ignored it. "Vicky, are you alright? Can you hear me?" Cassidy said full worry. She blinked the blur in her vision away and spit away the blood in her mouth. "Yeah, I'm five by five." She said sounding weak. She pushed off Cassidy and continued walking towards Novac. Her first steps were shaky, but after two steps she walked about semi stable.

The pain was getting worse.

It was easy to ignore pain when you were in a fight, just as easy to ignore when you're drunk. But the adrenaline from the fight was long gone, and the haze from the rum had stopped just about when they had left the outpost. "Hey Vicky maybe we... " Cassidy began but she interrupted "No, we're going to Novac, I am not going to just lay down in that fucking outpost for weeks." she said with a icy voice. She was a Blunt dammit, and a Blunt did not lay down just because she felt weak.

They walked a couple of minutes in silence, Cassidy giving her constant worried looks. Eventually Cassidy took a long deep breath. "Hey, Vicky I've been thinking." She said thoughtful. She glanced at Cassidy wondering what she was going to say. "uhu, you've been thinking?" she said as a warning. Cassidy bit her lip. "In hindsight you were right" a beat "We saved lives, although I would argue that it was insane to do it in the first place." her own face went black from surprise. They kept walking for a minute. She wasn't entirely sure how to respond. Eventually she said "Well, I'm happy that you eventually saw it my way." she said pleased with herself. She shrugged. "We need to work together for a long time, it isn't good to keep that tension between us." In the corner of her eye she could see Cassidy nod. "I figured the same. So maybe it's an idea to, yah know, get to know each other." she said unsure.

"Well what do you want to know?" a beat "parents, where I'm from that kind of shit?"

"Yeah, those kind of things. I'm from a small village myself, not far from Vault City." Cassidy said happily. "You?" She prompted.

"Shady Sands girl myself, grew up with my parents and grandparents from my father side of the family." She retorted.

Cassidy frowned. "I would have sworn that you were a Blunt regiment girl." Cassidy said surprised. She shrugged. "I am a 'Blunt regiment' girl, I just didn't spend that much time actually with the regiment. My mother didn't think it was a place for a child so I lived a good part of my life in Shady Sands, but my grandparents always insisted on visiting a lot. After my mom died, we moved in with my dad in the regiment itself."

They just reached a bridge. The landscape as most of the wastes was a combination of ruined buildings and wildlife taking back the world. "How about your parents? Farmers? Or were they caravan traders as well?"

Cassidy shook her head no. "Never knew my dad really, he just yah know, took off one day. Don't know if he just died or lost his way, but never saw him again." Cassidy sounded nonchalant about the whole thing but her eyes told her a different story. "My mother was a tribal from way East." she turned to raise a eyebrow at that. Her voice was full of surprise "Wow, how did she get all the way to NCR territory? I mean, no offense meant, but it isn't like they were safe or something. "

Cassidy gave her a understanding smile. "I know, as she told it she just started walking west one day and didn't stop until my dad bothered to stop her." She whistled at that. "Tough lady then, she has my respect." she said with genuine respect.

"Thanks, she took good care of until she died. But around that time I was already thinking about boys, so I could take care of myself." Vicky chuckled at the mentioning of boys. "O god, my father practically launched a boy by canon every week to me." She shook her head, laughing hurt as much as it helped. "He didn't laugh though when he found me with his best friend's daughter." Cassidy let a chuckle. "I take it he didn't take it well?"

"Not take it well?" she said flustered " Cass not taking it well is needing years to accept it. My dad took the biggest gun in the house and started firing in Jessica's direction, the only reason she isn't dead is because I put myself between my dad and her." She shook her head, trying to dismiss the horrible horrible memories from that day.

"What did you do afterwards?" Cassidy asked sounding genuinely curious. "Well, I didn't care for staying afterwards, so I said fuck it and made my way to New Reno." She smiled because of the memories from the trip. "Vincent, my guardian, escort me all the way." She threw her head back off laughter at the memories. "I was so mad at my dad, I screwed every woman that was willing on the way. All the while Vincent quietly stood around the corner, making sure nothing happened."

Cassidy chuckled as well. She let out a breath, "You know the funny thing?" Cassidy shook her head. "By the time I reached New Reno, I realized I didn't like woman." Cassidy's face turned sympathetic. Cassidy opened her mouth to say something but she waved the reaction away. She kept her tone even "It happened long ago, Cassidy, and it made me realize a couple of things." She light another cigarette, trying to distract herself.

"Do you regret leaving?" Cassidy asked on a sympathetic tone. She took a long deep breath. That was a hard fucking question. "Sometimes" she said on a nostalgic tone. "If I had stayed, some people might not have gotten hurt. On the other side, I would never have met them in the first place." She puffed out a breath. "Honestly I don't know" she said truly unsure.

Cassidy look around the landscape, unsure of what to say next. They walked the next couple of minutes in silent, Vicky brooding and Cassidy feeling awkward. "This Vincent" Cassidy ventured, "What does being a guardian entail? Is it like a godfather or something?" When she realized what Cassidy was doing, she gave her a thankful smile.

"It's more than that. A guardian of a child has the authority to pull them from their family's if it's necessary. None one, and I mean not even the general of the regiment has the authority to countermand that." She said with a level tone.

Cassidy whistled out of impression. "I always figured the Blunt regiment was a community, but I didn't think it went that far."Vicky shrugged. "Honestly I'm not surprised you didn't. The reason why recruitment outside of the regiment is so low is because most don't fit in. We send them packing with a strict warning not to talk about what happens inside the regiment." They were walking past a ranger outpost what pissed her off again. Rangers shouldn't be stationary, they should be constantly attacking, harassing, scouting or killing. Oliver's shitty strategy would end with the NCR losing miserably and her father leaving Baja afterwards with everything he has. After that...well, the Mojave had more than enough room for mass graves.

She pushed the button on her pip-boy for the radio. As they walked she searched for radio new vegas. When she found the radio it played the end of some song followed by the cheery voice of " _hey hey, It's Mr. New Vegas. We will be right back after this new report: The NCR is busy containing the escaped convicts, now known as the powder ganger. After the successful attack on Primm by the powder gangers, bruising the couriers express reputation, the courier express paid them in kind. A day after the powder ganger attack a courier, by the name of Vicky arrived in the town and killed every powder ganger that took part in the attack, including their leader."_

She pushed the button on her pip-boy for the radio. As they walked she searched for radio new vegas. When she found the radio it played the end of some song followed by the cheery voice of " _hey hey, It's Mr. New Vegas. We will be right back after this new report: The NCR is busy containing the escaped convicts, now known as the powder ganger, to limited success. The powder gangers, in a suicide by proxy, attacked Primm. Their initial assault amazingly was a SUCCES!"_ A dramatic pause. " _However as the people of the Mojave know"_ his voice became higher, building up excitement." _the courier express does not take it laying down and days after their assault the courier Vicky single handedly killed over a hundred powder gangers with mocking ease."_ His tone became slightly disappointed but it didn't miss the excitement. " _Unfortunately she already left when our reporters arrived at the scene. According to witnesses she said she had unfinished businesses in New Vegas. Well little lady, Vegas is looking forward to your arrival, as proof this next song is for you!"_

She just stood there just staring at the thing the music not registering to her ears.

"Vicky?" she heard Cassidy ask sounding worried.

"YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME!" she screamed through the wasteland.


	14. Chapter 13: Know they enemy

"I am telling you Benny, people are worrying about what you are doing!" Swank said pleadingly for maybe the twentieth time this meeting. Benny took a sip of his scotch, complicating the situation. Swank was never an ambitious man and he was loyal to a fault, it was the why he choose him as his second. The fact that he was here at all meant people were starting to talk about replacing him, which also meant replacing Swank. Swank started to speak again, but Benny raised his hand to stop him.

"I know Swank, people have started to wonder what I am doing for the chairmen nowadays, but I promise you, it's going to be grand!" He said full conviction. Swank gave him a disbelieving look. "If you say so, Benny" Swank said with resignation. Swank left after that with a grim disappointed face.

He didn't let it show it on his face, but the situation was even grimmer for him. Swank had a high chance of being kept alive since he was an effective administrator, the only thing going for him was that he killed the previous boss. The whole of the chairmen, a tribe at the time, wanted to join House. Their boss, or rather chieftain, stubbornly didn't want to submit to anyone. But the rest of the tribe saw the opportunity.

He would need to find something to placate the chairmen, but the big question was what to give. The only thing he could give was more profits, but he would need do that through Swank, not his own ability. The only ace in his hole was the Yes Man securitrion and a chip that was useless to anyone but House. But that brought a big degree of danger as well. He was pretty sure the majority of the chairmen didn't want to risk their position in New Vegas.

He needed a safe way into the Lucky 38. But that was almost impossible. The sewers of New Vegas were guarded by House his personal security force and a direct assault would mean more bodies then he could possible muster. The other option, the one in legion territory, was just as suicidal.

He took a big sip of his scotch and turned his attention to the radio playing in the background. Maybe the news would give him a idea. The cheery voice of Mr. Vegas soon followed " _hey hey, It's Mr. New Vegas. We will be right back after this new report: The NCR is busy containing the escaped convicts, now known as the powder ganger, to limited success. The powder gangers, in a suicide by proxy, attacked Primm. Their initial assault amazingly was a SUCCES!"_ A dramatic pause. " _However as the people of the Mojave know"_ his voice became higher, building up excitement." _the courier express does not take it laying down and days after their assault the courier Vicky single handedly killed over a hundred powder gangers with mocking ease."_

"WHAT!" he exclaimed spitting out the scotch.

his tone became slightly disappointed but it didn't miss the excitement. " _Unfortunately she already left when our reporters arrived at the scene. According to witnesses she said she had unfinished businesses in New Vegas. Well little lady, Vegas is looking forward to your arrival, as proof this next song is for you!"_

The song started playing but he didn't hear it. IMPOSSIBLE! He shot the bitch right in the freaking head! How the hell do you survive being shot in the fucking head? He stood up walked from one end of the room to another. What to do?what to do? He couldn't put out a bounty on the woman. That would raise too many questions.

Then he stopped dead in his tracks. Her name, the couriers name was Victoria Blunt. He had asked the Khans before he left them about them. But the Khans didn't answer past besides a mention of some grudge between the Blunt's and the Khans. He had heard the name Blunt before. Mostly from NCR soldiers in the bars, but the only information he had was they had some rogue regiment somewhere in Baja. Which was weeks away, so it shouldn't affect him in the slightest.

He needed information, and luckily for him the perfect source of information was just two levels down. He quickly left the conference room he had used for his meeting with Swank and quickly entered the elevator. He tapped his feet in patience as the elevator went down. When it opened he rushed out of it and went left. He quickly walked past the different rooms.

Room 784

Room 785

He stopped in front of room 786 and politely knocked. He waited a few moments as he heard movement behind the door. He heard a strong voice shout "COMING!" The door open to reveal a small old man, a head smaller then Benny himself. The top of his head was clear of any hair, the hair he had left on the side of his head was a deep dark gray. His face was a painting of scars with some wrinkles in between. Or maybe better put, his face was one big scare with wrinkles on it. He had thick almost fluffy eyebrow. His nose was a little crooked and he had a small mouth accompanied with a small thin mustache. Despite the man's age of seventy-nine, he was still ripped. His arms barely fitting through the shirt he was wearing.

The man his gazed narrowed at the sight of him. Benny offered his hand which the man took. "Hello general Hale "He said with respect. " I am Benny the head of the chairmen." At addressing him as a general, the general increased the grip on his hand. He tried to pull back but despite the man's age he couldn't pull out of the grip."Listen up, sonny." He said on a threatening tone . "I am no longer a general, so you can address me as sir or mister Hale. " he said as he released the hand.

Benny waved his hand a couple of times to relief the pain. He tried to sound polite as he said "Of course mister Hale, my apologizefor the misunderstanding." The former general looked him over. He didn't see anything but contempt on the general's face, but he ignored it. "What do you want" Hale said with impatience.

He put on a polite smile, he kept his voice neutral "I wanted to talk about certain part of your former military, sir" Hale looked insulted. His voice was proud as he said "I might not be part of the NCR military, but I'll be dead before I tell you anything, Benny." Hale made a move to close the door, but he put his foot in the door. "It's about the Blunt's!" he said hastily.

Hale looked at him flabbergasted. His face twitched as he gave Benny a deep stare. Benny saw...pure hatred in Hale's eyes as he look Benny straight in the eye.

Hale's voice was hesitant "Why do you want to have information on them?" Benny took a deep breath, a complete lie wouldn't do. "I might have unintentionally killed one of their agents." he said keeping his voice neutral. Hale gave him a considering look, his stare softening. "You do realize this is going to cost you right?" Hale said flatly. He smiled. His voice was smooth "Of course mister Hale. We received a case full of sweet rum yesterday, it's yours in return for what you can tell me." Swank would give him hell later, but he needed solid information. If Hale as former head of the NCR military couldn't give him solid information, no one could. Hale moved away from the door leaving it open. He quickly followed.

Hale sat down on the couch in the middle of his room. Hale's room was fairly large. It had a pool table, a big bathroom, a decent sized kitchen and a master bedroom. He never ordered any entertainment to be brought up to his room and he never left it as far as he knew. Which made him fairly sure that the whole child molester accusations that ruined Hale his career was one big piece of brahim shit. It wasn't like he couldn't get anything with the Omerta's around. He made it very clear to Swank that if Hale tried, he would be kicked out of the Tops.

Hale poured himself one of those expensive rums and put up a cigar. He motioned for him to sit across him. "So explain the situation to me without too many details, I don't want to get involved in your shit, Benny." Hale said flatly. "I would think you would enjoy getting involved with the stare you gave me, mister Hale." He said cheerfully. Hale dismissed the notion with the wave of his hand. "Your live is not worth tangling with the Blunt's, Benny. "

Hale said flatly. He frowned, but was quick to put up a neutral face up quickly. He explained that he had encountered Blunt agent, somewhere somehow and killed him with the help of the Khans. He didn't mention the person was a Blunt herself, though.

"So, you killed an agent of the Blunt's, and the Khans are the only ones that can tell the Blunt's?" Hale asked with a tint of humor in his voice. He nodded vigorously. Hale let out a dry chuckle. "You could have saved yourself the worry, Benny. There is a short list of people that absolutely hate the Blunt's and the Khans are one of them." He frowned, it certainly didn't feel like that to him. He pressed one "That's not what I gave the case of rum for, sir. I am going to need some more information."

Hale took a deep breath and shook his head. "Okay, okay, little history lesson. The Khans are originally from vault fifteen, at least the first generation. Their leader was Garl Death-Hand. After they left the vault, Garl had the idea of killing the toughest son of a bitch in the wastes." Hale said on a dramatic tone.

Benny nodded in understanding "This was a Blunt I assume?" Hale nodded "Yup, Seth Blunt. Seth and his group of some hundred guys fought with the Khans for over two decades, along with the other two raiders that emerged out of vault fifteen. From what I've gathered Seth his tribe lived from hunting dangerous animals like yaoguai." Hale took a big puff of his cigar. "When the Khans and the other two started to harass Seth and his guys, he got an idea." Hale smiled viciously. "He figured , hey these guys are harassing us anyway, why not make a profit from it? So for the next twenty years, instead of hunting yaoguai, they hunted raiders. Took all their stolen goods, and sold them back to whoever the raiders stole it from. The Khans were the only ones tough enough to not be obliterated every time they fought the Blunt's." Hale took another puff on his cigar. "The only reason why the raiders kept being a pain in the ass was that Seth kept moving through what now know is as the core regions of the NCR. Meaning no region really got cleared out completely."

Benny nodded in understanding. Seth was smart enough not to deplete his source of income. This Seth was also probably smart enough to keep the more dangerous weapons for his own people.

"So one day, Garl has another bright idea."He said on a sarcastic tone." He was going to attack Shady Sands, take all their supplies and weapons and useit to finish the Blunt's for good. "Benny nodded "I take it Seth didn't agree with Garl's idea?" Hale gave a snort, amusement clear in his voice. "Of course not. Seth and his guys had traded with Shady Sands in the past for food and shit. " Hale voice became grim for a moment. "Besides, if the rumors are true he had a crush on Tandi." Hale shook his head a couple of times, like dispelling some nasty thought. "Anyway, Khans attack in mass. Seth fucks him hard in the rear and the two finally fight it out who is the biggest bad ass in the wastes."

"I take it Seth won." Hale shrugged. "He did, but if my granddaddy's stories are true, it wasn't easy." Despite himself Benny couldn't keep himself from becoming curious. "How so?" He asked sincerely curious. "Well apparently Garl had cut of Seth's arm. Seth just picked the dam thing up and beat Garl to a inch of his life with it."Hale said like it wasn't anything special. He waved his hand as dismissing something. "Garl ran, spiteful son of a bitch kidnapped Tandi a while later."

"Okay, all well and good, but how do they end up with the NCR?"

Hale puffed out a breath. "Well Aradesh our mayor or president, whatever, decided it was smart to keep Seth and his guys around. Mind you the Blunt's didn't just have a hundred fighters. They also had children and old people with them. People who couldn't fight. So in return for feeding the children and old people and providing the Blunt's with anything the needed 'for the protection of Shady Sands'. " Hale said with air quotes and all. " the Blunt's agreed to protect Shady Sands. Later they changed it to the whole of the NCR. We call them the Blunt regiment, but make no mistake their still a tribe at heart."

Benny took a swallow at that. This could become a problem. He puffed out a breath. "What about the actual Blunt's, who leads them nowadays?" A flicker of disgust washed over Hale's face and it was voiced as well "Gloria Blunt and her son by the great general 'the shocker' Benedict, Marcus Blunt. " His voice was praising when he mention Benedict. "Monsters, both of them. " Hale said icily." You're lucky they'll never find out you killed their agent. Their as vicious as deatclaws and their mercy makes the Legion look like puppies."

His voice was carful "You seem to have personal knowledge of this." he stated. Hale nodded. "Gloria Blunt was my fiancé for a time." Hale shook his head again, dismissing memories most likely. "Until I saw one of her dad's torture sessions, that woman was like a angel. After that I helped Tandi contain the Blunt's as much as possible."

And it gets worse and worse, Benny thought to himself.

But this did raise some questions. "Marcus Blunt doesn't have any children?" he ventured. Hale raised his eyebrow at the question, Hale voice was hesitant. "No... he doesn't. His wife was... assassinated while she was... pregnant of their baby girl." A flicker of something passed over Hale's face. His voice was grim. "Almost nine months pregnant, then someone shot her in the heart with a sniper rifle. Baby was stillborn and after naming the child they burned her body along with the mother." Hale's voice was neutral, but he could hear something behind his voice. Hale let out a breath. "Maybe it was for the best" Hale said as he took a swig of his drink "Marcus his wife was...a interrogation expert. If she hadn't been killed...she would been arrest most likely for...excessive methods." Hale grimaced. "I hate to think what kind of monster would have come out that woman, regardless if IT was Marcus Blunt his child or not."

Benny blinked a couple of times. The hell? He tried to keep his voice neutral. "What if I told you the Blunt agent called herself Victoria?"

Hale didn't blink and without missing a beat he answered "That wouldn't surprise me, Marcus calls all his prized agent in certain regions Victoria even the male ones. In honor of his daughter." Hale gave a shrug. "Before getting kicked out I received daily messages of agents called Victoria. The only one that got me interested was in New Reno about eight years ago, since the description partly matched that of Gloria Blunt in her younger days." Hale gave a shrug. "Two weeks later I hear the van Graffs killed the woman for something and burned the body. The van Graffs are ballsy, but they aren't stupid enough to kill an actual Blunt. "Hale said as a matter of fact. " The regiment would burn all of New Reno to the ground all the while singing Kumbaya, and the van Graffs know it."

Benny grit his teeth. The fact that one of the van Graffs is named Gloria didn't make him think something was off? But he kept quiet, Hale might be old but he still had the body of a twenty year old if the muscles were any indication. Hale took out his cigars and licked his lips.

"You called Marcus Blunt and Gloria Blunt monsters. Why? Besides the... excessive integration methods."

Hale's face went soured for a second. His face grim he said "Because they will do anything, and I mean anything to make sure their people survive." He couldn't help but be confused with the statement. This was the wastes, survival at any cost is the norm, not the exception. His confusing must have showed as Hale went to clarify "I can tell you the details, Benny. But frankly I hate thinking about the whole thing. " He gritted his teeth, but he didn't think Hale would go back on that statement. "Why did your previous leadership allow their behavior then?" Hale took out a puff of his cigar. "Because at the end of the day, Tandi knew how to handle them. To the point they only acted out when someone had the smart idea of attacking the Blunt's on a personal level. If anything the Blunt's regiment is….was the most effective fighting force the NCR had." Hale gave a shake of his head. Hale's voice became almost happy "It didn't hurt Benedict was in charge of them for a long time." Respect filled his voice." Despite everything the man was a saint." Benny ignored the mention of this Benedict again. He was dead and couldn't hurt him.

Benny licked his lips. He tried to keep the frustration with the vagueness from his voice. "Can you give me a worst case scenario, sir?" Hale gave him a questioning look, clearly confused why he needed to know so much of a threat, that shouldn't a be threat to him. Almost casually he said "Well, again, the killing a Blunt is worth having the city you live in burned to the ground. Killing one of their agents? Your worst case scenario is probably them sending Vincent over."

He had to resist the urge to snap at Hale. Maybe some of his frustration came of his face since Hale clarified soon after. "Vincent is the captain of the ghoul squad. Ten soldiers from the pre-great war era. The other nine are about worth twenty veteran rangers, IF you believe the stories. Vincent is one the same level as Benedict, who, and this is fact, hunted Brotherhood of steel paladins for sport." Hale clarified. "So Benny I'm getting curious, tell me what is going on. Since you obviously should have lost interested after I told you about the relationship the Khans and Blunt's have."

He quickly stood up and went for the door. "Thank you mister Hale, I will make sure you get your crate." He hurried out of the room. If this woman called in her family he had zero chance of survival. He need to increase security around the casino for sure.

Swank was most defiantly going to give him hell.

 **AN:**

 **Take a moment to think how huge a advantage it is to have one hundred guys dedicated to nothing but fighting, in a period in the Fallout universe where the town guard was the norm for everyone except the Brotherhood of Steel.**

 **I believe the rise of the NCR was just a bit too sudden as far as the wiki explains it. There had to some edge that prevents raiders from constantly wrecking everything they had. Add to that their area needed to be secure to allowed the growth of a economic power house.**

 **Please review! I'm curious on what you guys think of Hale his tale!**


	15. Chapter 14: Ding dong

_The Divide, about eight years ago_

Her whole body was numb. She was pretty sure she should be in extreme pain. She did feel something, but it felt distant. Like a wind blowing at her while she was behind a wall. It had been eight days since she had woken up. Or was it the ninth? It was hard to be sure. Even lifting her eyes required great effort on her part.

Just listening was easier. She heard voice speaking some foreign languages. Sounding rough and sharp to her hears. Once a day a voice spoke to her. If she had to guess she would say that the voice belonged to an old woman. While the voice sounded old, it also sounded kind. After the voice spoke she could feel something being applied to her skin. She didn't know what was being applied to her skin, but she figured it was the reason why she wasn't in extreme pain.

She was trying to open her eyes. She had too little information to stay in this place. She didn't know why these people were keeping her alive. With her luck they were saving her for a dinner or something like that.

She tried opening both her eyes, but only the left one would open. At first she could just see the candle light in her room. Then inch by inch, her eye opened further. She then tried her left again, but something was blocking it. Maybe it was completely bruised? She looked around. She was in some kind of cave. Well duh, she said to herself. You are in the Divide, Victoria. Which was one big maze of caves. But it wasn't completely like the other caves. This cave smooth, handmade instead of the natural rough ups and downs, with the sharp edges.

Next to her bed was a chair, a small carving inside the cave wall was where the candle stood. The amount of space between the bed and the wall could just fit a person. A small privacy screen placed between this room and the next.

She put her hands on the bed. Both her arms felt like papier-mâché. She tried to push herself upwards. She came about an inch before her arms gave away. A ripple of pain went through her body as she landed on the bed. She let out a painful groan. She heard a sound coming behind the privacy screen, which was followed by an old looking woman sticking her head through. Well, old wasn't the word. Ancient was more appropriate. The woman's her hair reached her hips, most of her face was obscured by the long thing grey hair, but she could see just the eyes which were a light blue. For the rest she saw a small but kind smile.

"Mako be afok." She said with a kind sounding voice.

She blinked a couple of times. Her voice was hoarse and she strained to let out every single syllable ."D..o..n't...under...stand...you" she said meekly. The woman gave her a nod, as if understanding what she just said.

"Rick! Ba ka ma!" The woman shouted. The tone reminded her off how her grandmother would shout at her for not being fast enough. "makabla" a voice shouted back. It sounded young and smooth, even while talking in the scratchy language. A few moments later a man stepped into the room.

He was a stud. High cheek bones, a prominent lower jaw, a thin face, light brown skin and his hair was smoothly low cut. He had a couple of scars around his face, but they only made him look more handsome. He exchanged a couple of words with the old woman. The woman left afterwards. The man grabbed a couple of pillow under the bed. He used the pillows to put her in a sitting position.

It felt horrible to be so helpless.

He grabbed the chair that was next to her and sat it besides the bed. They looked each other in the eyes (well eye for her) for a moment. He had light blue eyes that almost looked like magical orbs. Was he the one that saved her? She couldn't but snort. The beautiful prince saving the princess. She chuckled out loud. It hurt, but the laugh made it worth it.

He gave her a question look, not getting the joke. He raised his hand to his heart. "ma to, Rick." he said evenly in the scratchy sounding language. He then open his hands towards her. He wanted her to introduce herself...

She considered her situation for a moment. She couldn't give the name Victoria, since her father had forbidden the use of her real name outside of their home or the regiment. She was being hunted by a assassin, who was looking for her under her usual cover name, Vicky. So that name was out as well. She though a moment about what name to give. Then she remembered the old lady that lived in the same apartment building as her in New Reno. The woman had helped her with getting settled, taking care of herself and even a shoulder to cry on when she needed one.

"Ma... to..., Mal...lery" She said weakly.

 _Novac, present_

"Hey Vicky, what about these?" Cassidy asked her, pointing towards a couple of jeans. They reached Novac about a hour ago. They rented a room, for a ridiculous price as far as she was cornered. After checking in they asked the locals if they had any clothes for sale. Which they didn't, but there was a caravan trader that did have some clothes. The first thing she found was a bra in her size. The caravan trader was happy to swap bras.

The jeans were dirty and a little torn, but it was better than most of the clothing the caravan trader had. She was lucky in any case that there was someone to buy clothes from at all. "Those jeans there are about fifty caps, little lady." The caravan trader, Max, said with a thick southern accent. That would be seventy caps in total with the black shirt she had picked out. She looked over Max his inventory. "What about the leatherjacket, the one with the shoulder guards and missing sleeves?" Max gave her a smile at her question. "Well, that one is pretty high end, so one hundred and fifty would do it. Two hundred and twenty in total." She pouted at the price, but the latex jumpsuit was getting uncomfortable.

She gave Max, she hoped, a cute smile. "If you could give the jeans for you have a deal." Max bit his lip. "How about the shirt? Two hundred caps." Max said with a tone of finality. She made a humming sound, considering the offer. "How about this, we make it one hundred and fifty, and I will join with your trip to the 188 trading post?" Cassandra gave her an approving look. Max glanced at his own guards. He had two guards both with shotguns and in leather armor, but the road between Novac and the 188 trading post was dangerous according to Cassidy. It was a raiding hotspot, mainly by the legion. The NCR had made a point of sending patrols along the route, but that only resulted in more target practice for the Legion. Which made her wonder just what the hell was Oliver planning? Bore the Legion to death?

"Make it one hundred and eighty, I get that jump suit and we have a deal." She took the outstretched hand and shook it. "You have a deal, Max."After paying Max, he told her they were leaving tomorrow morning. After about five minutes of small talk she and Cassidy left for their room. Cassidy went to sit on the bed, while she walked into the bathroom.

She unhooked all the belts with her weapons. She carefully placed all the belts with her weapons on the sink. With a smile on her face she stripped out of the jumpsuit. She grabbed the jeans she had bought, quickly putting it on. She let out a relieved sigh. She absolutely hated latex.

She heard a knock come from the front door. She quickly pulled her grandfathers 10mm out of its holster. She heard movement inside the room, then Cassidy speaking to someone, a male voice if she wasn't mistaken. A moment later she heard Cassidy yell "Vicky, it's for you!" A beat "I'll be right there!" She responded. She put on the shirt, then the leatherjacket. It took two minutes to put on the belts properly. But someone in the wasteland should always be prepared for a fight, even in the middle of a town.

She left the bathroom and took two steps into the room. She found Cassidy sitting on the bed on the left side of the room. On the right there was man sitting on a chair. At the door she saw a sniper rifle. The man had a static look to him, breathing at a controlled rate. He had a bald head, with a 1st Recon beret on his head. Which immediately identified him as someone to respect, he also wore pair of aviator sunglasses which hid the expression on his face. He wore a light brown t-shirt and dark green pants, with brown boots.

He turned towards her. "You must be the courier." the man said with a grim and heavy voice. She let out a sigh. If the dam radio kept blabbing about her, the whole of the Mojave would know about her before she reached New Vegas, she thought flustered. "Maybe." She said carefully. "Who are you and what do you want." The man looked towards Cassidy with uncertainty for only a moment, then his gaze turned back to her. "I'm Craig Boone, I want to hire your services." She raised an eyebrow. "Okay, what do you need delivered?" The man's look became heavy with sorrow for a moment, before relapsing into his static look. "I want you to find something out for me. I don't know if there's anything to find, but I need someone to try." He said with a tone of sadness hidden in his grim voice.

"My wife was taken from our town by Legion slavers one night while I was on watch. They knew when to come and what route to take, and they only took Carla." His voice became angry. "Someone set it up. I don't know who."

The room became eerie silent. She looked over to Cassidy who didn't know what to do or to say. She took a deep breath. "Mister Boone, I hate to ask, but how are you sure she didn't leave you?" she said sympathetically. Boone nose wrinkled in dismissal. "My Wife's dead, I want to you to find the son of a bitch who sold her." She bit her lip, not sure how to approach the situation. She calmly walked over to Boone and grabbed the chair next to him, she positioned the chair opposite to Boone. She turned towards Cassidy for a moment unsure if she wanted to be a part of this. Cassidy's only reaction was to give her a nod, which she returned.

She took a seat, and tried to keep her voice clinical. "Mister Boone, I know how it is to lose someone you love."Despite herself she waivered, emotion flooding her voice " I know...I know whatever pain you are going through is the absolute worst you will ever feel. I know you want to blame someone. I know you want to rip out someone's spine, and strangle them with it. I know... I know...because I'm still hunting the person that killed my family." She said her voice full of ice. Boone gave a curt nod, as he bit his lip. "I know how it is, to blame yourself for your partner's death." She took a deep breath trying to regain her composure. . "And if you are completely honest with me, about the how you obtained all this information. I promise you I will do my best to find the fucking monster that sold you wife." She said with the conviction that came with four years of hurt. Four years of being denied her rightful vengeance.

Boone her an appraising look, judging her measuring her. "I followed the legionnaires that kidnapped my wife." Boone began, with almost a clinical tone, like he was removed from the whole process. "When I found them, they had already reached their camp. My wife was in a cage, along with a dozen other woman. The camp had a thousand soldiers at least, there was no way for me to fight through them." Boone said ashamed. "I...was forced to take a mercy shot." Boone said with self disgust. She heard Cassidy gasp out in shock. She herself gritted her teeth. _Coward,_ she though. But that wasn't fair. Honestly she didn't know if she admired Boone or was disgusted by the sight of him.

The chances of Boone successfully infiltrating a Legion camp was near zero. She wouldn't have blinked at charging into a Legion camp to save Rick, it wouldn't have mattered if it was a thousand or ten-thousand, she would have found a way. Life without him was torture, dying to save him. Now that she get behind.

Then again, her Rick wouldn't be taken alive.

She took a measured breath letting the thoughts of Rick slip away. Her revenge was something for later, it was Boone's turn first.

"Mister Boone" She started carefully. "What color was the sign above the cage your wife was in?" Boone looked up, a question in his look. "You don't want to know the meaning of certain signs Mister Boone, believe me." She could hear Boone grit his teeth for a moment. "Blue and pink" he answered curtly. She gritted her teeth.

Of course...what else would it be?

"I see." She said with a clinical tone. Al the while she wanted to punch a hole in the wall out of anger."When I find this..." She doubted a moment what word to use. "...person, how do you want him delivered?" Boone stood up, walked to the door and put his sniper rifle over his shoulder. He grabbed the door knob, but before leaving he said "Bring him in front of the snipers nest, I have the night shift, give me a signal and ill do the rest." He said with grim determination.

Then he left.

She looked over her shoulder to see Cassidy's face full of sympathy. "Vicky...I'm so" Cassidy began, but she interrupted her. "I appreciate the sympathy, Cassidy. I really do, but frankly I don't want to talk about it." It was easier to keep it all suppressed."I...have come to terms with my situation..." She turned towards the wall. "Doesn't mean I'm happy about it, but wailing like a little child won't help me get revenge." She bit her lip, considering something for a moment. "After my business in the Mojave is complete I am going back to Legion territory. This will be without the protection of the Courier Express. So if you stick with me until my business in the Mojave is done, I will write you your recommendation."

It was quite for a couple of moments. After which she heard a soft "Okay Vicky."She stood up and went through the door. She looked over Novac. She liked her lips. Everyone in this town looked more or less innocent. Including two former NCR soldiers besides Boone. She preferred to get this done before Max left, but frankly she would give him the full price for the clothes if It meant giving Boone his revenge.

She looked over Novac again and her gaze focused on the big Dino something thing. Supposedly it had a shop inside. She considered her options for a moment. She had decided to sell their goods at 188 trading post for a better price, but merchants tended to be talkative. Maybe the owner could give her a hint.

"Cassidy." She said to Cassidy who was standing in the door. "Yes Vicky?"

"Could you bring the loot from Nipton with you? I have a plan." She didn't bothered to wait for a reply. She calmly walked over to the Dino whatever the thingy. She entered the store, to find a black bald man behind the counter. He was clean shaven and wore a black blouse with the top two buttons open, under which he wore a shirt. He was also kind of old, like most of Novac's residents. The store was a state of disrepair, like most of the buildings in Novac, but it was relatively clean. "Well hello there ma'am, what brings you to the Dino Bite gift shop, home of the second largest thermometry in the world!" The man said proudly. "I am Cliff Briscoe, at your service." He said happily.

She gave the man, Cliff, a polite smile. "Hello, I would like to see your inventory and see if we can trade some goods." She said as Cassidy walked into the store with the bag of loot from Nipton. Cliff eyes almost popped out his sockets from surprise. "Well" Cliff said with a small smile. "I think that can be arranged."

Cliff put most of his best wares on the table, including a very elegant looking 5.56mm revolver, he nicknamed 'That Gun', a hunting rifle in very good condition, a 10mm machine gun, a hunting shotgun, which got Cassidy interested, and finally ammo for all guns on the table. To her amazement he even had 5.56mm armor piercing rounds. Her eyes immediately focused on That Gun. She picked it up and made a show of inspecting it. "So Cliff, could you help me out with something?" She asked casually.

In the corner of her eye she could see Cliff light up "Of course ma'am, just ask." She opened the That Gun to inspect the cylinders and barrel of That Gun. She also made the mental note to try and stop referring it as such. "I saw a stud of a guy cross the yard a while ago. He had a sniper rifle on his back and a redberet on his head. What's his story?"He saw Cliff become uncomfortable for a second. Guilt? Or just plain awkwardness? "He he, that would be Craig Boone, he's one of our two snipers. Keeps us save along with Manny Vargas, who's on duty now." He said proudly.

She was happy with what she saw of That...the revolver. She made a happy humming sound. "So, he is...available?" She said with fake enthusiasms. She heard a tisking sound from her right where Cassidy was inspecting the hunting shotgun. "Oh come on Vicky, I saw him first!" Cassidy said with a acted pleading voice."Oh Cassidy, we both know it isn't about who see's it first, it's who hits it first." She said with tongue and cheek.

Cliff's voice became full of worry. "Ladies, ladies." He said as he raised his hands as a sign to calm done. His voice was hesitant "I wouldn't do that...Boone's wife...recently...left our little community...and I think he is taking it very hard." He said full of worry. Cassidy and she shared a look. "You don't look that sure about the leaving part." It wasn't a question. Cliff bite his lip for a moment. "I'm...not sure...the whole thing felt strange to me. In any case I wouldn't try ladies, maybe when you are on your way back he might be a little more open." He said obviously not believing a word of it.

She put the 5.56mm revolver on the left side of the counter, having decided to buy it. She picked up the 10mm machine gun. It was in good condition, almost perfect even. She looked Cliff over, he didn't have the look of someone that could repair a machine gun this well. Despite it being a good gun, she put it on the right side of the table. She was disappointed by how little information hey got from Cliff, but it was a start.

She ended up selling and buying a fair deal. She sold one of her revolvers and Cassidy her caravan shotgun. She bought the 5.56mm revolver. Along with thirty armor piercing rounds, five boxes of regular 5.56 ammo, the hunting shotgun along with a couple boxes of shotgun shells. She didn't buy the hunting rifle since ammo for it was pretty rare. To her surprise she had actually a fair amount of loot left from Nipton. With a little bit of luck, she would be able to sell that for a higher price when she reached the 188 trading post.

After they were done exchanging goods for caps she turned towards the stairs. The other sniper would probably know more about Boone his wife. She had just put her first foot on the stairs when Cassidy called out "Hey Vicky, look he has painkillers!" She turned around to look at Cassidy, who had a bottle of pills in her hands. Cliff had a panicked look, he quickly moved behind the counter to grab the bottle of pills, but Cassidy moved it out of reach. She narrowed her eyes. "Cassidy, throw it!" Cassidy had a moment of doubt, before she threw the bottle over Cliff his head. She caught the bottle easily it easily in her hands.

Then she read the description which made her go cold in a instant. The description read "Carla Boone, GVS pills, max two a day, start..." She couldn't read the rest the of the description, not there was a need. She knew what GVS pills were for... Cliff grabbed the bottle of pills out of her hand. There was a clear annoyance in his face and voice "Dammit ladies, you should know not touch what doesn't belong to you!"

She shoved Cliff against the wall. "Listen up old man." She said icily. Cliff put his hand against the wall, and looked towards the door. She glanced over her shoulder to see Cassidy blocking the door. Cliff looked back to her obvious fear in his eyes."We both know, Carla Boone would not leave in her condition. That leaves one other option. So either you give me a names of the people that were in the room when she ordered those pills." She waited a beat for her words to sink in. "OR I drag you in front of the town and tell them what you did!" She wouldn't drag him in front of the town of course, but she would drag him in front of Boone. There was obvious confusion on Cliff's face, before he responded with a heated retort. "That I did what? I ordered what she told me to, I didn't ask any questions! Everybody knows she left because Craig refused to leave!" Cliff snapped.

He wasn't the one? She thought. She bit her lip. She couldn't keep the ice from her voice, but she tried to. "Well Cliff, this brings us in a predicament." She took a step closer to him. He looked ready to pounce for the door. "Either there was someone else that was in the room when she made the order. " She made a deliberate pause. "Or you did it Cliff." Cliff's confusion broke through again. "Did what?" He said dumbfounded.

She waited a couple of beats, she grabbed the collar of his shirt and brought them face to face. "You have two choices, Cliff. One: you give me the names, or two I bring you in front of the town for the crime of selling Carla Boone to the Legion!" She said full fury. Cliff's face turned to horror as she said it. He raised his in protest. "WAIT, WAIT! He said his voice full of panic. "What is it Cliff?" She said mockingly. "Don't have the guts to face your people and say I did it?" She said with menace. "I'm sure they will have mercy, Cliff." A beat. "They're probably only going to excel you. Or ask the NCR to take care of you."

Cliff's slumped in defeat. "I don't want my name mentioned when you bring her in front of the town." He said defeated. Her? She thought.

"Fair enough, so what's her name?" She said curtly.

Cliff bit his lip for several moments before finally whispering "Jeannie May Crawford"

She raised her eyebrows in surprise. "The old hag of a motel owner?"She said full surprise. Cliff gave a nod. She blinked a couple of times. The woman was unreasonable as far as motel prices went, but selling a woman into slavery? It took her a moment to digest the revelation. An old lady selling another woman into slavery...what the fuck is the world coming to? She quickly left the store after she made sure Cliff wouldn't warn Crawford. When they were outside Cassidy and herself took a table across the motel office.

She slowly carved the face of a woman with glasses into the table. Her focus already set on Crawford being the one that sold Clare Boone into slavery. After she was done carving she stared at the carving. This was the face of evil? She mused. She kept staring at the carving until Cassidy's voice penetrated her focus.

"Vicky?" Cassidy prompted.

 _"_ Vicky?" Cassidy prompted again.

"Vicky, what is the plan?" Cassidy asked with hesitation.

"Isn't it obvious?" she asked curtly.

"uh...uhm...yeah...but shouldn't we, you know gather the proof you promised to gather?" Cassidy said unsure. She blinked a couple of times. Raising her eyebrows towards Cassidy. Cassidy's only response was to point towards the table.

The face on the table was full of holes. The tunnelers knife penetrating the wood easily. She was shocked for a moment. She stared at…..her work for a couple of moments, unsure what to think of it. She took a hard swallow, attempting to swallow the shock with it. She said "We will break in, when it's dark. We find some proof, then Boone can have her." She let out a long deep breath trying to calm herself down.

There were only two people who could have possibly done it. Assuming of course the man was telling the truth...No matter, if she couldn't find proof she would present both of them to Boone and tell Boone what she knew, the rest would be up to him.

She looked over to Cassidy who had unsure look about her. "How do you even know Cliff or Crawford did it?" Cassidy asked hesitantly. She kept her voice neutral, not wanting everyone in the world know she was angry "The sign above Carla Boone her cage." She said matter of fact. Cassidy's face spit in confusion. "If I'm right, we will find the proof we need when we look through her stuff tonight. If we don't find anything we're going through Cliff his store." She said clearly not accepting an argument over the fact.

Cliff or Crawford. One of them did it. One of them is a monster. One of them is the definition of a soulless creature. Her father always taught her it was better to kill fifty innocent people and kill the monster among them, then risk the monster escaping. She never believed it. Her grandfather taught her better. Her grandfather taught her it was a Blunt's job to find the monster and annihilate it for the sake of the NCR. Not kill innocent people. Her father agreed with him of course, on the monster killing part. He argued that it was better to kill forty-nine innocent, because a real monster would always ruin even more lives.

She had always chosen her grandfathers side of the argument. But she was starting to see her father's point. If woman had already destroyed two...no, three lives. When would she stop? Four? Five? Ten? Twenty? She shook her head. She was a Blunt, first and last line of defense of the NCR and its values. Carla Boone was a part of the NCR, however indirect, so it was her job to avenge her.

Her father and grandfather disagreed on a lot. But the one thing they always did agree upon was that the family should either protect or avenge the NCR and its citizens. Their reasons were different though. Grandfather argued from the point of defending the innocent. Her father argued from the point that if one was brave enough to harm a NCR citizen, how long would it take for someone to be brave enough to attack the Blunt family itself again? The whole reason behind the whole argument was obvious to anyone that knew her father.

It was the attempted assassination on her mother.

Her father was paranoid. Her mother had barely survived giving birth to her. Her father never talked about it, but her grandparents did. She was born too early, a couple of minutes longer and she would have been stillborn. After that, her father went to extreme lengths to hide their existence. She always asked her father "When can I step into the world and Show myself?" Her father always responded the same "When I find the bastard that tried to kill you and your mother." She snorted. When she left ten years ago he still hadn't found the bastard.

Still...

When she made her trip through the wastes, she never gave her real name. She only told Rick after they were married...The Khans were a emergency, there was no other option. It seemed her father's paranoia had rubbed off on her. She let out a tired sigh. She turned towards Cassidy.

"I am going to sleep for a couple of hours, wake me when she goes to bed." She stood up and left for her room.

It was about midnight when Cassidy woke her. She slept with her clothes on, so she didn't take long to get ready. They carefully made their way to the motel office. "How do you suppose we get in Vicky?" Cassidy asked impatiently in a whisper. She couldn't see Cassidy's face in the dark, but she imaged it being full reluctance at breaking and entering. "Easy" She raised the crowbar she took from the storage shed on their way her. She heard Cassidy grunt in annoyance, which she ignored.

They reached the office. She quickly shoved the long part of the crowbar in the space between the door and the wall. She pushed the crowbar in the direction of the door. The wood of the door gave away easily. It creaked a little as she demolished the space around the lock, but fortunately it didn't make that much noise.

They quickly rushed into the room and closed the door. She activated the light on her pip boy. Cassidy had a flashlight at the ready and switched it on. "So what are we looking for?" Cassidy asked uncomfortably. Her stance was awkward as well, like she wasn't sure if she needed to run or not. "Relax, the people here didn't wake up when a group of slavers invaded their homes." She said casually. A emotion flicker of determination passed over Cassidy's face. Cassidy gave her a determined nod. "What are like looking for?"

"Were looking for a bill of sale, it will be hidden somewhere. Believe me, she wouldn't keep it in the open." Cassidy gave a nod and made her way to the storage area behind the office. She checked out the desk. Several minutes passed as they went through all of the junk in the office. Pieces of paper, pencils, empty cans, dirty clothes and seemingly unrelated administration.

She took a moment to go through the administration. Crawford was spending more money than she had. No wonder the motel price were so high. It was the only thing keeping her head above water, but only barely. She then noticed something odd. About a month ago she suddenly had a surplus. She saw it was from a single record that was marked sale.

Gotcha!

She heard footsteps behind. She quickly tear the related piece of paper out. As she tore it out Cassidy touched her shoulder. "I find something" She whispered. She turned around and nodded. Cassidy turned around and led her to a safe. She narrowed her eyes at the thing. She didn't know how to crack safes expect blowing them up. She raised the crowbar in her hand. Or prey it open.

\- Cassidy and she took turns working on the safe. It took a good two hours of work before they had forced the thing open, but eventually the safe door opened. When she gazed inside she saw a big bag of caps. Under it lay a piece of paper that looked rough instead of the smooth pieces of paper you saw from people from the NCR.

Her hands instantly went for the piece of paper. She quickly read through it. A deep relieved sign escaped her lips.

They had found the monster. It wasn't a guessing game anymore. Despite being fully prepared to deliver both of them to Boone, she was happy she wouldn't have to. "What does it say?" Cassidy said expectedly. She stood up and shoved the paper in Cassidy's hand. "Read" She said bluntly.

Cassidy gaze narrowed in annoyance, but she started reading anyway.

She started to read the letter out loud, in a tone that told her Cassidy wasn't believe what she was reading.

"We, the representatives of the Consul Officiorum, have this day bargained and purchased from Jeannie May Crawford of the township of Novac the exclusive right to ownership and sale of slave Carla Boone for the sum of one thousand bottle caps" Cassidy breath hitched, her hand reaching to her heart, her face was full of horror. "And those of her unborn child..." She finished in horror. Cassidy sat down on the floor, the level of horror finally sinking in. Cassidy sat that for several minutes just processing the letter.

In the meantime she looked over the bag of caps. If she had take a guess, this was about five hundred caps in total. She took out the paper she tore from the piece of administration. Crawford had bought mostly necessities. Water, food, guns and ammo. She also had a couple of records marked 'mercs' .

"You knew" Cassidy said still in shock. She pocket the piece of paper. "I did" She stated. Cassidy gave her a questioning look. She quickly pulled out a cigarette and eagerly light it. "The sign I asked for, they basically mean 'most likely pregnant'. She took a deep puff from her cigarette. "And the GVS pills? What are they?" Cassidy asked expectantly. She breathed out the smoke. A weary sigh escaping her lips. "They're improved health pills for woman living in radiated areas" She took another deep puff of her cigarettes. Cassidy blinked a couple of times, obviously never having heard of them.

"Most people don't know about them because frankly, only people in the cities are rich enough to pay for them. So caravan traders usually don't bother with carrying them." She blew some smoke. "They're rare even in Shady Sands, only place you can get them with some reliability is the Boneyard." There was a realization that went over Cassidy face. Cassidy looked away from her. She saw that Cassidy opened her mouth to say something, then closed it.

After a moment Cassidy turned back to her, a gaze of determination on her face "What are we going to do about Crawford?" Cassidy asked with grim determination in her voice. She casually said "Like we promised to do, Cassidy. Deliver her to Boone."


	16. Chapter 15: The witch is dead

She told Cassidy to deliver a note to Crawford's house. The only thing on the note was 'WE KNOW'. It would give Crawford enough of a scare to check her safe. Where she would find another note with 'In front of the Dino'. After Cassidy delivered the note she would go to Boone and give him the bill of sale. Cassidy has protested that Boone didn't have to know everything. She had retorted with the fact that Carla wouldn't have ordered that expensive a drug without talking it over with Boone. They had argued over thirty minutes over telling Boone or not. An argument she won by demanding Cassidy provide another piece of proof besides the bill of sale that would proof Crawford's guilt.

She was in front of the Dino. She wondered how Cliff knew for a fact that he wasn't the biggest thermometry in the world, instead of the second. She looked around, gazing at the silhouette of the town. The town was more or less dying. The majority of the townsfolk were old, the only young people she recalled were Boone and Manny.

Her thoughts were disturb by a snapping stick in the background.

"So it was you!" Crawford said in anger. She casually turned around facing the monster. Crawford had a haggard look to her. She carried a 10mm gun, in bad condition she had to add. She pointed the gun towards her as she said "Where is it! Give me back that piece of paper along with the caps!"

She gave a vicious grin. "Oh you mean the bill of sale for Carla Boone and her unborn child?" Crawford's expression became surprised for a second, followed by a nervous look. The woman looked over to the dino. "I'm sorry I don't have it on me." Crawford gaze narrowed. "What do you want?!" She snapped angrily.

Her expression became full of fury. "I want to know why you did it." She stated angrily. Crawford gave her a surprised look. "I did it for the town, not that a drifter like you would understand." She gave a snort. "You would be surprised, Crawford." Crawford nose twitched for a second. Considering something. "Carla was going to take Boone away from the town. Without him and Manny we are defenseless. We don't have the caps to hire a mercenary to take his place."

"And that it helped your financial problem didn't hurt now, did it?" She snapped with fury. Crawford gripped the gun a little harder. Obvious fear on her face. "My financial problems are the town's financial problems you stupid bitch." Crawford said full conviction. "My husband and I built this town, we built it to the community what it is today. We were doing fine for decades! Then those dam NCR soldiers showed up. They come every day! 'Encouraging' us to join! We were holding them off for a time, but with the ghouls stopping scavengers from looting the tests site we are in trouble!" Crawford said flustered.

Her shoulders slumped. Defeated she said "This is my town." A couple of tears going over her cheeks. Vicky was silent for a couple of moments. Letting the woman regain her composure and focus. "But that doesn't excuse anything." Vicky replied back. Crawford raised her head, their eyes meeting. "Frankly, just because you helped built something doesn't mean you're entitled to anything. And selling Carla into slavery? Honestly, the only thing you accomplished with that was ruining three lives." Crawford's face flinched in guilt and self-loathing. "You don't know that!" Crawford snapped back. "It gives us a chance to survive on our own a little longer. A little longer to find a solution to the ghoul problem!" She almost pleaded.

She just shook her dead in quite dismissal. She raised her right hand. "What are you doing!?" Crawford said in panic as she raised the gun again. She looked at Crawford for a moment. She could appreciate the will to do anything for your people. But she became irredeemable the moment she turned on her own. "Ending you." She said calmly. She dropped her hand, a moment later a hard shot rang through the night.

Crawford's head spilled in a thousand tiny little pieces of blood and flesh. "Ding dong the witch is dead." She said humorlessly.

* * *

She quickly made her way up the stairs. When she opened the door she found Cassidy sitting awkwardly on the chair in the room. Boone was staring through the dino mouth. Not moving and barely breathing.

She locked eyes with Cassidy. Cassidy answered the unspoken question. "He hasn't moved since it happened." She nodded, and motioned for Cassidy to leave the room. She took a seat on the chair Cassidy had occupied. She light up a cigarette. Took a long deep breath and asked "How does it feel? "

Boone's head turned slightly glancing at her. Several minutes passed. Minutes in where Boone kept glancing back at her and the outside. "I don't feel any different." He finally said. "Carla is still dead." He said sadly. She gave a nod in understanding. It was a couple of moments later when he asked "Does the pain go away?" She took a deep puff of her cigarette, as to try to keep the memories away. "When I'm...when I'm walking the wasteland the only thing I can do is think about my Rick." She said grimly. She tried think about her family back in the NCR. But most of the time that didn't work and she started thinking about Rick and the others again. "I think about his smile, his teasing, his annoying obsessing with how cool smoking looked."She gave a bitter smile. "And I think how much I miss all of it." She let out a weary sigh. "I try to keep too busy to think, but my work as a courier involves a lot travel. So that idea goes out off the window fairly quickly."

Boone gave a nod in acknowledgement. Staring into the wastes for a couple of moments. "Carla.." His breath hitched for a moment. "Carla had a obsession with dancing and singing." Boone said, a bitter smile in his voice. "That's how we met." He took a long tired breath. There was a hint of a smile as he spoke. "When I was on shore leave in Vegas, she forced me to dance with her. When we were done with dancing we were both exhausted." a beat, his voice sounding nostalgic. "It was the first time I smiled in months. I asked her why she picked me over a couple of dozen other guys leering over her." He moved his hand eyes, wiping something from his eyes. "She said because I was the only one that looked like I needed cheering up." He said on the brink of sounding devastated.

"I take it, it picked up from there?" She probed carefully. He gave a nod, not turning towards her. "She wanted me to leave the military. Said it was bad for me." She frowned at the suggestion, but kept quiet. It wasn't, and she doubted it would be ever, the time to argue about Carla's opinion about the military. "So I did, moved to Novac a couple of months later. I always dreamed of living in a frontier town you know." He said wishfully.

She gave a small comforting smile. "City kid I take it?" She promoted. Boone glanced over his shoulder and nodded. He turned in his chair finally facing her. "Junktown, you?" He asked relieved to be talking about something else. "Shady Sands until I was about twelve. "She responded." Then I lived with the regiment." Boone blinked a couple of times. "The Blunt regiment?" He prompted surprised. She gave a quick nod. There was obvious surprise in Boone's voice. "I thought the motto was 'born in the regiment, die in the regiment'?" She gave a shrug. She gave Boone the same explanation as Cassidy, which he accepted with surprising ease. "That must have been tough, your dad going crazy like that." She gave a snort. "Third worst day of my life." She said flatly.

She took a long deep puff of her cigarette. Boone grabbed two bottles of water, offering her one, which she took. Boone gave her a considering look. Then as if he decide something his look became serious as he asked "You mentioned you were still hunting the person that killed your family." he stated. She nodded in confirmation. Curious as to what Boone wanted say or ask. "Novac...it has a lot of memories...memories that I frankly want to avoid." Boone said with a hint of despair in his voice. "And I still have to pay for your services and." She interrupted him, making sure he knew where they stood. "I don't need any payment for your services, Boone. It was a service from one widow to another." Boone gave a thankful nod. "And" He continued. "I don't see how caps can repay for what you did for me." Boone finished.

"What I'm trying to say is...if you want my help with getting revenge...you got it." She blinked a couple of times, not expecting the offer. Her first instinct was to take the offer, but Boone didn't what she was facing. She grinned her teeth a little, thinking about all the possibilities of having a grade A sniper with her. She should just accept the offer and not think twice about it.

"Before I accept you help, I need you to know what you're getting yourself into." She said matter of fact. Boone just nodded in response. She kept her voice purely business, not wanting to sound vulnerable. "My target is a legion officer by the name of Octavian." Boone straightened up in his chair, obvious surprise on his face. "I gather you know the name." Boone gave a curt nod. "Who the hell doesn't know Caesar heir?" He stated baffled. "How do you expect to get to him?" Boone asked. "I imagine he is just as well protected as Caesar himself." She gave a slow shake of her head. "First off, he isn't. He acts like a regular frumentarii regulator from what I can tell." She blew out some smoke of her cigarette. "Meaning he doesn't stay in one place for long. He mostly works in east Utah and Colorado from what I can tell. Sometimes In Arizona, but that's rare."

"What's your plan?" He asked.

She looked at her hand as she curled it into a fist. Her hands almost became white pressure she applied. "My plan is to destroy the Legion, when it's crumbling down in a thousand pieces I'll go for the kill." Boone raised his eyebrow, followed by...she wouldn't call it a smile, but it came close. "I'm in." Boone said with conviction. She looked up in surprise. "You haven't even heard how I plan to destroy the legion."

"I imagine you have one, but even if you didn't it's something I can get behind. I still have a bone to pick with the Legion and if I can help you with your revenge at the same time, all the better."

She gave Boone a genuine smile, happy that she found someone to share her burden with. "My plan is actually kind of elaborated."

"The key to the Legion is their discipline." She started. "The key to discipline in the Legion is brutality. The thing is using brutality to create an iron discipline is a precision job. Use too much and you create brutal killing machines that only know how to brutalize, nothing else. Use too little and they won't be loyal enough."

Boone gave a nod in understanding . "The former won't be able to do anything besides killing...and if he comes into a officer position he won't have the capability to show restraint when it makes sense." Boone said clinically. "The later is even better."He said with a hint of humor in his voice." If he becomes an officer or worst case scenario, a frumentarii. Both positions gives him the freedom to manipulate situations to the detriment of the Legion."

She gave vicious smile at Boone's conclusion. "Exactly!"She said pointing her finger towards Boone. Boone gave her a thoughtful look. "I don't see how that involves you though."She gave a nod at that. "It doesn't directly. What i've been doing is assassinate every single Legion instructor that actually knows how to balance the brutality he uses. It increases the pace at which the bad legionnaires are produced."

She took a sip of water and continued. "The simple fact is, the Legion breeds way too fast for their own good. They have several hundred instructors, training thousands of boys, but in all likelihood only a few dozen that actually know how to properly train the boys they get."

"But the most beautiful thing is are the tribes that Caesar absorbed in his Legion. Most of them follow Caesar, not the Legion. So when Caesar dies…."

"The tribes will go back to what they were." Boone finished.

She nodded as she made a humming sound. "Exactly. Oh I'm sure they will stay for a while see how glorious Octavian is, but he will most likely be disappoint. Not being able to get the respect he deserves to lead the Legion." Personally she was betting on Lanius being the first to rebel, if he didn't claim the Legion outright from the get go.

Boone didn't seem that sure. "I don't know, rumors says he went toe to toe with Mallery Death-Hand. He has to have some skill if he survived that." She gritted her teeth in anger at mention of that lie. "There was another rumor going around that Mallery Death-Hand her real name was Victoria Blunt. You believe that too, Boone?" She said obvious offense in her voice. The offense in her voice was meant for the former rumor, not the later of course.

Boone gave a thoughtful glance at her for a moment, then answered "nah. Blunt's are a lot of things, but they would never fight against the NCR." Think again, Boone. She thought grimly." Even if general Blunt is being a ass at the moment. Besides Marcus Blunt and his mother are the only Blunt's around nowadays. Unless you heard differently." He asked rhetorically.

She was quick to shake her head no. Almost too quickly. She let out a silent breath, then continued explaining her plan. "After Caesar dies, the Legion will be in a chaos. Octavian will need to secure his powerbase fast. Something that will get more difficult with each improperly trained is the moment I'm going to kill him. He will need to be stationary, so with a small elite team i'll attack wherever he is, without mercy, without warning and destroy him." She gave a big vicious smile at the thought alone. "It doesn't hurt of course that the Legion would be in complete chaos afterwards."

Boone worked his jaw for a couple of moments. "Where do you plan to get this 'elite team'?"

She paused for a moment, thinking about how to bring this to Boone. How longer she thought about it, how unlikely the situation seemed that he would accept her people. She bit her lip. She looked at Boone for a moment. Then she had to consider the situation that the group wouldn't accept him. She bit her lip so hard she drew blood.

"I have a couple of friends." She started hesitantly. "Their a little rough around the edges, but they're as tough as veteran rangers at the very least." She said proudly. "But they might not like the NCR that much at this point, frankly it's entirely possible they will kill you on the spot."

Boone frowned. "Fair enough, I can handle myself. So where are they now then?"

She became a little awkward at the question. She moved her hand from side to show her doubt. "I don't know exactly, they….they recently escaped out of jail."

"WHAT?" Boone said flustered. "Powder gangers, seriously?" She frowned, absolutely hating the comparison. "I'm almost one hundred percent sure they were incarcerated unjustly. Besides, I doubt they were behind the riot in the first place." Oh Vicky, do you even believe it yourself?

Boone looked as convinced as she felt. Boone shook his head. "Fine, if they're decent people I'll accept it." He waved the issue away with his hand. She smiled grateful that the topic was abandoned.

She stood up and opened the door. "We will be leaving in a couple of hours. I'll get you before we leave."

 **AN:  
** **Please review!**


	17. Chapter 16: Echo of the shocker

_The wasteland, present_

They left early in the morning. Boone woke up his sniper buddy, so that the town wouldn't be left without a guard. He didn't know what Boone said to convince Manny that he wasn't the one that shot Crawford, but it worked. Manny let them leave without issue. As they left Novac she saw Boone look back one more time. Before finally turning his back to the town he had called home with his wife.

They walked in silence. The guards looked bored, Boone had his usual static look, Cassidy was walking next to Max with obvious ease in her old role as a caravanner and Max looked relaxed. She herself was as bored as the guards.

She tried talking to Boone, but he wasn't in the mood. Cassidy was too busy pretending she was a caravanner again. So her thought eventually went to the Divide, and everything she had lost there. She thought about Michonne, the old lady that had healed after she almost got killed by a Deathclaw. She smiled at the thought of her. The lady was old, but her voice was as strong as a bear. She would yell at everyone, including the chieftains of the Divide if she felt like it. That woman could have send her and every single of her ancestors to bed without their supper.

She snickered at the thought.

Boone gave her a look, not understanding her amusement. She only shrugged in response. It wasn't like she could explain the joke to him.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity, Cassidy broke the silence. "So Max, how did you end up in the caravan trade?" Cassidy said casually. She couldn't see Cassidy's face since she was in between the guards at the back and Max and Cassidy in the front. She walked next to the brahim, Boone mirrored her own position on the other side of the brahim.

"Well like a lot of people I suppose. I needed caps, caravan trade seemed as good as any job." Max gave a shrug. "The only other option was becoming a raider." Max said with disdain and a hint of fear.

Cassidy turned her head sideways towards Max, a smile on her face."I used to be in the caravan trade myself." Said with fake cheer in her voice."but then my caravan got blasted." Max turned his gaze towards Cassidy a frown on his face. "That isn't the first time I heard this story, let me guess a crimson caravan company messenger showed soon after. Offering caps for the rights of your caravan company."

Cassidy only had a stunned expression in response. Max let out a tired sigh. "It's standard fare nowadays. The crimson caravan company pays good caps for any news about other caravan company's being wiped out. They rush when the grief of losing your caravan is fresh and offer a easy way out." Max finished with obvious disapproval.

Cassidy became silent. Max obviously having hit a nerve. The rest other group was silent not wanting to intrude on Cassidy her…..whatever she was feeling. She figured it was regret, but maybe it was shame. Maybe both.

Max glanced west of them. She followed his gaze. "What's that building?" She asked trying to distract everyone from Cassidy's hurt. Max glanced over his shoulder, raising a eyebrow at her question. "That's Helios One." Max said sounding displeased. "That first rate amature Oliver wanted to proof he was as tough as the shocker." Max as if Oliver was a child that wanted his toy. Simultaneously Boone, Max and herself gave a snort. Max gave an amused look over his shoulder. "In any case. The NCR attacked the whole place in mass, Oliver actually leading from the front." Max gave a scowl. "It was a bloody massacre, but Oliver kept charging in. Losing hundreds of men in the process. Hale would have never been as stupid to fucking charg into an fortified Brotherhood position."

Stupid...or brave? She didn't like Oliver on principle that her father should be leading any military campaign. But attacking the Brotherhood with him on the front? That she could respect.

He waved in the direction of Helios One. "And the cherry on top is the thing doesn't even work. The whole thing just stands there as a monument to the waste of live it is."

She couldn't help but be as displeased as Max was. "I would have just let the Brotherhood stay where it was. The NCR isn't the only power in the Mojava."

Boone narrowed his eyes at her. "I disagree. The Brotherhood was a clear and present danger at the time." Boone said clinically. "Hale was wrong to let the Brotherhood stay. They could have easily attacked several of our strategic positions in the area."

She shook her head dismissing the idea. "Sorry Boone, but those soldiers died for a flawed strategy. Oliver's plan to claim absolutely EVERYTHING is plain out ridiculous." She pointed towards Helios One. "You're right, the Brotherhood was a clear and present danger. Both to the NCR AND the Legion."she said on a scolding tone." Saying the NCR and the Brotherhood don't get along is a understatement of the century. But the Oliver forgot his new enemy for the old one. He didn't consider what the philosophy of his enemies are." She lowered her hand. Boone gave her a considered look at her words. Both Cassidy and Max were listening at rapt attention.

"Caesars philosophy, Which obviously states that every piece of electronic tool is a crime against humanity." She said with disdain.

"And the Brotherhood's philosophy, that states that they should seek out any and all advanced technology and protect humanity from it." She stated with venom.

"With those pieces of information it's obvious that at one point or another the Brotherhood and the Legion are going to be at war. Instead of exploiting that, Oliver mindlessly attack an enemy he shouldn't have to fight and wasted hundreds of lives in the proces." She said with regret.

Boone turned his gaze towards Helios One for a couple of moments, it had almost had disappeared beyond the horizon. Boone then turned back to her and asked. "Would you have the same opinion if it was the shocker, or Marcus Blunt that had assaulted Helios One?" The question caught her off guard. Would she? Her father and grandfather were masters of war, so the chance alone that they would make that mistake was…..small.

She dismissed the question. "That doesn't matter." The Brotherhood would flee before engaging the Blunt regiment anyway."The point is that Oliver made a mistake. A mistake that could possibly cost him the war with the Legion."

In front of them Max let out a chuckle. His voice was light, but scolding. "You both forget an important fact about Oliver."

Boone and her shared a look, both of them not getting it. Cassidy raised an eyebrow as well. His voice was casual "Oliver is the replacement for general Hale and Hale is the replacement for the shocker. If I had to guess, I would say Kimball bet everything he had on Hale winning this war, then the whole scandal happened." Max said matter of fact.

The realisation hit her. "Oliver doesn't, or rather didn't have, Kimball's trust." She said surprised. Max nodded still looking in front of him. "That's my two cents on it. The Brotherhood is the big bad enemy that the shocker consistently defeated." He gave a grunt of disapproval. "The bitch is, the people aren't stupid. They knew Hale was running the whole freaking NCR military from Camp McCarren and he was doing a freaking swell job as well. So Kimball needed someone as public and competent as Hale." Max said with disapproval.

Max voice became heated "So what does he do to reassure the people? Instead of immediately appointing a new high general of the NCR, he made it a competition. General O'Brian immediately invaded Brotherhood territory, general Bashir invaded the 80s tribe in the north and Oliver attack Helios One. The first two failed on epic proportions and Oliver made it by the skin of his teeth." Max let out a huff. "But I can't freaking blame him. I would take Oliver everyday of the week over Marcus 'bloody' Blunt." Max said with disdain.

Which made her glare in response. Traders like him should be begging for her family to take over again, she thought with resentment.

They were silent for a moment as they approached an gas station. They had their guns at the ready when they saw a couple of people populating the gas station. Max soon gave a sign to lower their guns. "I recognize a couple of them, they're good people." She gave a curt nod in response. As the walked towards the station, a NCR patrol approached as well. If she had to guess it would be about twenty soldiers, give or take.

As they walked past the gas station Max waved at the people there. She kept looking at her right and left. On her left was another dried up lake, which was inhabited by giant ants. She could see a couple of the ants constantly watching them, ready to charge in if they decided to attack. On her left was the gas station, but beyond that were nothing more than hills and rocks.

She couldn't ignore it. She was already grinding in teeth in anger. Something in the back of her head could not let Max's comment go. What in fucks name was wrong with her family running the military? It was the reason everyone could safely sleep at night. It was the reason the Brotherhood wasn't annexing NCR factories for their technology. HELL! Without her family the whole bloody NCR would only be one shitty town that barely could take of itself!

She took a calming breath putting great effort to ask the question as calm as possible. "So, Max…...I take it you don't like the Blunt's?" Max gave a grunt. "What's not to like? Sadistic assholes every single one." Lies you fucking freeloader! " Same for their fucking regiment. Frankly, I don't know which is worse. The Blunts or the regiment itself." Max said full venom.

She could hear herself grinding her teeth.

"Fucking hell, I still remember as if it was yesterday. The a detachment of the Blunt regiment, along with Gabriel and Marcus 'bloody' Blunt." Max said with horror. "They tortured my parents to death. Gabriel just laughed as I screamed in horror and begged him to stop." Max said with obvious pain. More. fucking. lies, she though. She had to physically stop herself from reaching for her gun.

"They were raiders, fine. Dying is part of the job. But they didn't deserve to be tortured to death." Max said solemnly. She blinked a couple of times. Maybe…...no..her father or great grandfather would not stoop as low to torture without reason.

Max shook his head as if shaking away the memories. "The only reason they didn't kill me is because the shocker intervened." Max let out a deep breath. "But even he didn't let me go without a price." Max turned around and pointed his finger towards her "He look me straight in the eye with his venom green eyes and said" And that was the moment they locked eyes. Max mouth fell open, clear and utter shock on his face.

Moments passed everyone looked at Max expectantly, especially her. Max slowly worked the shock of his face, his hand slowly reaching for his 10mm machine gun strapped to his leg. She slowly reached for that That Gun in her holster in response. The rest of the group seemingly not aware of the tension between Max and her.

A moment later a soldier shouted "Look out! The Legion is attacking!" Everyone turned towards the soldiers, who were preparing to fight. The legionaries were coming over the hill, at least two hundred. The twenty NCR soldiers, despite being obvious outnumbered made a firing line. The sergeant stood next to the firing line, a grim determination on his face. He gave them a look, silently asking for help. She nodded in response. She started firing of orders "Boone, snipe the officers, the rest join the firing line." She said not accepting disobedience.

She approached the the firing line and pulled the service rifle of her back. The group joined her on her left, Boone went on one knee and starting firing his sniper rifle. The rest of them prepared their own guns. Max, Cassidy and Max his guard only had shotguns, which meant they would next to useless until they were in stabbing range. She shared a glance with Max, obvious apprehension on his face. Fool…..she was the last of his worries at this point.

She looked to her right. Most of the soldiers had a expression of determination on their faces, along with a healthy mix of fear. But a couple of them was obviously pissings themselves. Their weapons were shaking and they gave the sergeant panic looks. The sergeant caught their expressions and said "Remember your training men!" He said in a commanding voice. "We are the NCR military, we are the defenders of NCR!" He said as he joined the firing line.

The legionaries were in what she knew was a standard Legion formation. The Legion always charged in semi square blocks, about twenty legionaries per line. The officers were in the back of the square, surrounded by the most experienced legionaries and other officers. The front consisted, if possible, out of unblood legionaries or legionaries that barely had any experience. The legion saw it as a good tactic to use the inexperienced legionaries as shields. It was a brutal tactic that only worked because of the ruthless nature of the Legion and it's insane number of soldiers.

The legionaries at the bottom of the hill were give or take thirty meters away, when the sergeant gave the order "FIRE!" As one would expect the first salvos didn't hit that many, some around the edges of charging legionaries, but it wasn't very effective. It was then she saw that the front line of legionaries were carrying thick metal sheets, using them as shields against the rain of bullets.

She gritted her teeth, if they didn't take out the shield carriers they would die for sure. She looked over to Boone, who just fired another shot, taking out an Legion officer. If she had the time she would be impressed. Taking out an officer though a crowed of legionaries and shields wasn't something a ordinary sniper could do.

She looked at the group of legionaries. A moment of panic rang through the formation. Some of the front legionaries screamed in panic and tripped. What sounded as war cry rang through the formation, the legionaries increased their pace, but some of them broke formation. Instead of running behind the shieldbearers they ran next to or in front of the shieldbearers. But the majority by far kept in formation.

She finished reloading her service rifle just before the other soldiers did. The scared looking ones were not far behind, the sergeant screamed "Aim the the legs!" in an almost calm sounding voice. The second salvo was far more effective, completely taking out the shieldbearers, who fell on the ground. They also took out the majority of the line of legionaries behind them and partly hitt the line behind that.

The other legionaries did not even hesitate as they stampeded over their fallen comrades, some of them tripped, but the majority just stepped on them and continued the charge. She couldn't help but sneer in disgust.

She quickly started reloading her service rifle."Aim for the the middle of formation!" The sergeant cried out. She hesitated for a moment, thinking that it might be better to spread the the fire evenly of the formation. She dismissed the thought a moment later. The battlefield wasn't the place for thinking, but following orders.

The legionaries were fifteen meters away, and they did now show a single sign of slowing down.

As they started firing again she could also hear the sound of a 10mm machine gun firing, along with the constant fire of Boone's sniper rifle. Their concentrated fire quickly created a hole in the formation. They even started reaching the officers in the back of the formation. A cry rang through the formation again, and the soldiers reformed into a single line, running straight for the middle of their group.

There were if she had to guess about another forty to sixty legionaries left when they were only five meters away. She dropped the service rifle to the ground and drew That Gun with her right hand, along with a machete with the left. She saw the NCR soldiers trying to reload their rifles, but the panic slowed them down. She looked to her left where she saw Cassidy and the caravan guards prepare their shotguns. She looked to her right again and saw that some of the soldiers were at the brink of running away.

They weren't going to make it. Legionaries were way too skilled in close combat for the NCR soldiers to win. Cassidy and the caravan guards could maybe kill the first ten to twenty legionaries with their shotguns, but they would die soon after.

She didn't blink, as she charged into the formation of legionaries . they needed a distraction something that would give them a moment to release another salvo of gunfire. The legionaries faces were a blanket of shock as she charged into them. They were not ready for something as fearless as themselves. The formation stopped for a moment, it was only a couple of seconds, but in those second she could hear the sounds of magazines being loaded into rifles.

It was like Victory her ears. No matter what, she gave the people behind her a chance at survival. The moment passed and the formation of legionaries started their charge again. They raised their own weapons, machetes, knives, clubs and even a couple of handguns.

The boy at the front of the formation looked more scared then brave. The boy took a quick glance behind him, then her continued to charge at her. This was the Legion. Young boys forced by a insane old man to fight wars for his glory. She raised That Gun straight at him and fired. The bullet destroyed his innocent face in less then a second and threw him backwards into the formation.

She kept firing.

She out the second bullet in the shoulder of a old looking tribal. The third shot hit the arm of a fierce looking man who was two meters tall at the very least. The fourth shot was went through one legionnaire and hit the one behind him. A legionnaire reached her and he tried to cut her down. She hit the machete out of the way with her own and pointed That Gun in his face.

She pulled the trigger with satisfaction as she saw the realisation on the man's face that he was dead. She quickly pointed her gun towards the formation. She shot the oldest looking legionnaire she saw.

It was a testament to their training that the whole formation hadn't slowed down. She only had a moment to catch her breath to prepare for the next legionnaire.

The legionnaire in front of the formation was quick to bring his machete down to cut her in half. She blocked the machete with her own, but another legionnaire hit her right shoulder with a club. Pain rang through her body, she dropped the gun. She almost gave away in her left hand as well, but she pushed through the pain to keep blocking the machete. Another legionnaire attacked her from her left with a machete.

Blocking or dodging it was impossible, instead she used her just freed right hand to grab the collar of the legionnaire she was currently blocking the machete from. She used her right hand to direct the legionnaire as a shield from the machete. She could tell from the expression of his face and the sharp sound of metal slicing flesh. A sharp cry of pain from her own mouth followed, caused by the legionnaire behind her hitting her with a club on the shoulder.

She shoved the legionnaire she was holding towards the other legionnaire, distracting that one. She hit the legionnaire behind her with her elbow,followed by a cracking sound as her elbow connected with his nose. Through it all she kept hearing the sound of service rifles firing away at the legionnaires. She even heard a panicked scream between all the shouting, though she couldn't tell if it was from a legionnaire or not.

She turned around and the cut him down as he held his nose in obvious pain. She heard the distinctive sound of a head blowing up in a bloody mess followed by the sound of Boone's sniper rifle. She quickly drew her another machete just in time to block four attacks coming from separate legionnaires.

Behind them she saw the other legionaries go left and right. Most of them were looking at the group behind here, but some clearly had their eye on her.

She strained as the legionnaires used both their arms to repeatedly beat into her with the machetes. When two of them were raising their machetes the other two were bringing them down. She strained at the repeated blows, it made counter attack impossible. Through it all she could hear the repeat sound of heads exploding. They were so close that she repeatedly felt blood gush from the headshots into her neck.

Another repeat of blows brought her to her knees. The legionnaires smiled viciously as they brought down their machetes without mercy. She could feel her arms losing strength as the legionnaires collectively raised their machetes. Her arms gave up, just as the machetes reached their highest point.

She did not turn away she looked them straight into their eyes as the legionnaires lowered their machetes all at once.

The machetes were only centimeters away when a collective salvo of gunfire shot them all down at once. She dropped her head out of exhaustion.

She could feel a faint smile on her face as she caught her breath. She heard the sound of someone running towards her. Who to her surprise was Max. Max kneeled next to her."Are you hurt?" Max asked sounding genuinely worried. She raised her head out of surprise, to find a genuinely worried looking Max. They locked eyes for a moment. The suspicious look in his eyes was gone. Replaced by a determined look.

"Noth..." She took a deep breath. "Nothing…..serious" She said as she started feeling her body for wounds. Adrenaline would keep the pain away for the moment, but it was better to catch the wound before then.

Max smiled. "Good, can't have the shockers granddaughter die so easily." He whispered for only them to hear. She blinked in surprise. Not getting the complete attitude shift. She opened her mouth, but Max interrupted her "Shush, we will talk about it at the trading post." he whispered. She opened her mouth again, but Max shook his head. She puffed out a breath, but she started to standing up in silence. She stood up with Max's help, but her legs gave away the moment he let her go. Max quickly caught her before she fell, but she nearly passed out from the exteriation. He put his arm around her hip for support. She muttered a "thanks" which he smiled at.

She looked around her.

In front of her were the four legionaries that kept her buys most of the fight, they had being obviously killed by the precise fire of the NCR soldiers. On her right and left lay a couple of dozen legionaries. Some of them were at the feet of NCR soldiers. She also saw other legionaries with obvious shots through the head, just a couple steps removed from her. She glanced over shoulder to Boone and gave him a thankful nod, which he acknowledged with his own nod.

She slowly turned around to the face the group. Cassidy smiled at her, obvious relief on her face. Boone gave her a respectful nod. The sergeant approached them and took her hand and shook it. "Thank you, ma'am. We would be dead without you." She gave him a coy smile. "No worries, sergeant. Just doing my patriotic duty." The sergeant laughed. "If every civilian was as tough as you, ma'am. We wouldn't need an army." She gave him a proud smile in response.

The sergeant walked over to his men. The men looked at her with awe and respect. It filled her chest with pride. She cherished the feeling. Her ancestors had exterminated the raiders in California, her grandfather had destroyed the enclave and broke the back of the Brotherhood and her father was crushing a whole state with just the regiment at his back.

For an a ordinary woman, she was extraordinary. For a Blunt she was a footnote. But those looks of awe and respect was the thing that always gave her hope she could become something more. Something that would leave her family's legacy in the dust. The thought made her smile as Max slowly walked her to the brahim and helped her sit on the beast.

 **AN:**

 **Please review!**


	18. Chapter 17: The power of a story

**AN:  
We're finally going to find why everyone loves the shocker so freaking much. I thought a lot of what music I would recommend for this chapter, but I finally went with Avenged Sevenfold. I would recommend Shepherd of fire when Vicky is telling her story.**

 **WARNING: description of one of the worst deaths imaginable in this chapter.**

 _Present, 188 trading post_

She spoke deliberately. "So, Max we need to talk." They were sitting opposite each other, just outside of the 188 trading post. She had insisted they needed to talk. She needed to make sure he didn't tell anyone about her. It was almost night, but there was enough light so they could see each other clearly.

"Yes, we do." Max said solemnly. He was clearly nervous

"So, I would like to hear more about your supposed encounter with my family." Making sure to keep her voice as skeptical as possible. She saw Max tense up at the word 'supposed'. She knew her family couldn't be as clean as they made sure to present themselves to the outside world, but what Max described was inconceivable.

Max let out his tension with a breath. "Yeah, I guess that's a good to start. Like I said, my parents were raiders. Not proud of it, but I never went hungry." He said defensively.

She just shrugged. "Good people aren't necessarily good parents, bad people aren't necessarily bad parents." She blew out the smoke. "Believe me, I experienced that story myself." Max gave her an unconvinced look, but continued. "In any case, your father and great grandfather showed up." He took a controlled breath. "My parents figured their best case scenario was them dying, me living. So, they told me to hide under a cart and stay there no matter what happened." She inclined her head as a show of respect.

Max shook his head. "My parents and the filth they hanged around with obviously didn't have a chance. Most of them got shot down by sniper rifle before anyone could fire off a shot." Max bit his lip for a second, then a resolved appeared on his face. "Instead of shooting all of them dead, they shot them in the kneecaps." She raised a eyebrow. The regiment doctrine clearly stated: 'The only good shot is a kill shot'. In her mind this issue was already resolved. The only situation where in they took prisoners was when the enemy gave a unconditional surrender. And in Max's case, raiders were not given that privilege.

"My parents screamed through the pain at me. They screamed to stay down under that freaking cart." Max closed his eyes, obvious composing himself. After a couple of moments he continued. "Eventually soldiers arrived. They put everyone in chains, told my parents and the rest they were in for a treat." Max gritted his teeth. "Then they showed up."

"First came Gabriel blunt, your great grandfather." The amount of anger and hatred in Max his voice surprised her. The surprise was more in the fact that was exactly how she imagined herself talk about Octavian.

"He walked around, inspecting every single one of his prisoners." Max sneered. "He inspected them like they're were cattle. He shot the weak ones in the head. Good friends of mine among them. He shot the children too." He said sadly. Max shook his head. "Little did I know that was a mercy." He said bitterly.

He looked her straight in the eyes with pure anger in his eyes. "Then someone brought a chair. He was wearing a mask, but he called Gabriel Blunt grandfather."

Despite knowing she should probably let him finish she interject "So you aren't sure it was the Blunt regiment at all." She said matter of fact.

"WHAT!" Max said with outrage. She motioned for him to calm down. "Tell me Max, isn't it true that they only started using foto's in every issue of the newspaper since about forty years ago." Max gave her a surprised look for a moment, then he frowned obviously knowing where she was going with this. "Yes, because they didn't have enough camera's back in the day to guarantee a picture with every issue. So freaking what!" He said angry. "They did have drawings of the people they interviewed, if a camera wasn't available. And I freaking read the paper then you….." He stopped talking as she glared at him.

He made an awkward cough. "In any case there were drawings of Gabriel Blunt out there. I reconsigned him." She pouted for a second. Then she retorted "But those drawings weren't a hundred percent accurate, Max. How can you be sure that it was the regiment if you can't guarantee that it actually was him." She felt like one of those bureaucrats her grandmother kept around to do her paperwork, but she wasn't going believe anything about her family unless it was beyond reproach.

Max seethed with anger "Because your grandfather showed up later to stop it." Max said through gritted teeth. Her first instinct was to start asking how he knew it was her grandfather, but that was easy. Her grandfather's image had been plastered around every corner of the NCR, after he broke the Brotherhood. Her grandmother always told her with the exception of his hair that her grandfather hadn't changed much since his twenties. So the leap wasn't that big…..

Max gave an impatient grunt. "Continue" She said. Max twitched in annoyance, but did so. "So, like I said. Your father." She gave a grunt. Max raised his hands in surrender. "Fine the man I think was your father!" He said frustrated. "That man brought a chair to the prisoners." Max bit his lip. "One for one, prisoners were used as test dummies. Your…" A glare from her. "The suspected Gabriel Blunt." He said resentful. "Gave step by step instruction on how to torture a person. All the while his next victim could only watch in horror." Max said horrified.

Max his voice became distant. "The worst part wasn't the seeing the torture actually. I could look away. No...the thing that keeps me up on night is Gabriel Blunt's voice…." Max took a long desperate breath. "The sheer glee he had. He enjoyed every bit of the torture, like it was some sexual fantasy for him."

She narrowed her eyes. She didn't know that much about Gabriel Blunt. Grandmother only mentioned him in passing. Grandfather talk about he died, father never talk about him at all. The only thing she knew for a fact was that he put a stop to several crime rings in Shady Sands, had an impressive record as a sniper and his record as head of the NCR military.

Nothing pointed towards any torture fetish, though she figured that wasn't the kind of stuff you let your sixteen year old daughter read.

"Then he said it was…..Marcus his turn to try." She would interject but he said Marcus, not Marcus Blunt. "Gabriel sat one the cart I was hiding under." A shiver went through Max. "Then the horror show really start. Gabriel instructed marcus step by step." Max looked haggard as he relived the memories. "The worst part was that small little giggle he had at the end of every instruction." Max dropped his head in his hands.

Max took a hard swallow, not looking up. "Then it was my parents turn." He said with finality. Max looked. "That was the point I lept out of my hiding spot to save my parents." He gave a bitter chuckle. "I was caught of course, put into chains and put next in line." Vicky stood up, Max straightened out of surprise but did not move. She calmly walked up next to Max and put her hand on his shoulder. "Shhhh, It's alright. Just finish your story." She said neutrally.

Max cried freely now. "I stood there, helplessly as they were tortured." He took a soaping breath. "Then it was my turn, I begged them to spare me. I pissed myself as they strapped me to the chair. I begged to all the gods in the world to spare me." He grabbed her jacket. "I begged them to destroy Gabriel Blunt and your father."

"They heard one of your please at least." She said sympathetically. Max gave a bitter chuckle. "Like that's worth a dam." He said angry. "Your grandfather showed up just before they started cutting into me…." Max looked started in front of him for a moment. "He was like a goddam hero. He came charging in with what I can only imagine was the ghoul squad. He murdered everyone involved, except Gabriel Blunt and your father." She narrowed her eyes again.

"Shhh" She soothed. "Now now Max." She firmly grabbed his chin and made him look upwards. "What happened next?" Max bit his lip. "The shocker talked to me while I was still strapped into that chair. He...he said that I was free to go. So long I swore to keep everything to myself….and….and to never raise my hand against his swore to all the gods in world that he would rise from the grave if I did." He said shivering.

She raised her eyebrow. What could a lowly raider son ever achieve against her family? Why would grandfather extract that kind of promise? It puzzled her, but she let the matter drop for now. More important was what he was telling her… it didn't make sense She thought a moment to process all the information she had. It made zero sense unless…..

Of course!

"Shhh Max. It's fine, the shocker killed the people that hurt you. So you don't have to worry."

Max his head shot up, anger in his gaze. He pushed her away. "Don't you understand. He made me promise that! It proof's your family is behind it!"

She shook her head. "No Max, don't you understand. The Blunt's have thousands of enemies. They can't beat us in a honest way, so they produce people like you. People that are traumatized beyond repair. That would need to seek vengeance against us." She said with utter conviction.

Max just looked as if she was a dog that just learned to talk.

She walked around the area they sat. "But my grandfather understood that Max. That's why he took down those people and probably took those people, that were pretending to be my father and great grandfather. So he could question them. So he could make sure it never happened again."

She turned to Max. "But he knew you were beyond repair, so that's why he threatened you like he did. He knew the fear he could install would keep you on the good path." She smiled. "And look at you now Max. Your a caravan trader. A productive member of the NCR, all because my grandfather made sure you were." She said proudly.

Max looked like he had trouble understanding what she was saying. No matter. "Hey I propose the following. We both go to the campfire and we listen to some stories. I'll tell you some good stories about my grandfather." She said upbeat.

Max looked at her with fear. "What are you afraid off Max?"

He blinked a couple of times then quickly said "Nothing."

Veronica Santangelo walked away from the caravan trader with a tired sigh. _It's your own fault for getting excited_ she thought with resignation. You could only find dresses in the city, not in the middle of the wasteland. She approached the wooden camping table where Geralt sat and took a seat across of him. "No luck, I take it." Geralt said upbeat. Her shoulders slumed. "You know how it is, Geralt. No sane woman would want a dress in the wasteland, so nobody has them." She said disappointed.

"Awh don't beat yourself up kiddo, you will find one eventually." Geralt said with enthusiasm. Despite her disappointment, Veronica smiled. She look up to Geralt. The right part of his face was burned off, a visible scar to his fight against the NCR, or more accurate the Blunt's. In his light brown eyes she saw the ones she couldn't see. Geralt kept the rest of his head as hairless as possible, besides his eyebrows of course. His head had an overall round feeling. Smooth jaw, soft features overall. The only real sign of his age were the rimples starting to form around his cheeks.

"Thanks Geralt, I would have gone insane long ago if you weren't with me." Geralt gave her a kind smile. Geralt used to be a star paladin, the bodyguard to the high elder himself. Then Jonathan Maxson was killed. Geralt survived, but he was reduced to a scribe for it.

She looked around. People were gathering around a NCR soldier, telling some grand story about the battle of hoover dam. She let out a tired sigh just at the mention of that freaking dam. She looked to Geralt again "Do you think McNamara is ever going to think of my proposal?" Geralt laughed. "Honestly Veronica, I don't get how you came up with the plan in the first place. Lost hills would declare us traitors before the day was out." Geralt said with good humor. She couldn't help but smile at Geralt response. She and Geralt completely disagreed on how the Brotherhood should interact with the outside world. But Geralt hadn't raised his voice once in all the time they had discussed the issue.

Unlike everyone else back home.

She groaned and stretched her arms, her hood fell from her head, but she quickly pulled it over her head again. "So, do we have enough to go back?" She said hopefully. She liked being outside, but home was home. Geralt tapped the two bags they sat next to him on the bench. "Yup, and some extra. With a little bit of luck it will be a day before McNamara kicks us out again." He said without humor.

She nodded. "Good, I think i was finally getting through to some people. Hopefully McNamara will be too busy with Hardin's nagging to kick us out." She said sourly. Geralt shrugged. "I wouldn't count on it. Hardin talks to me sometimes, says I didn't deserve the treatment I got." Geralt gave a snort. "Two beats later he ask me what you're planning. So I wouldn't count on Harding if you're dead set on your plan."

"Thanks for the heads up." She said sincerely. She let out a breath. Hardin was one of the reasons she wasn't upset about being send out to gather food in the first place. He treated her like a traitor, though McNamara did his best to keep Hardin from her back while she was home..

She let out a sigh. She put her elbows on the table and her hands under her chin. "Tell me Geralt, where do you see the Brotherhood in twenty years?" Geralt gave her a considering look. "I guess our numbers should be a little better. NCR is probably going to be a lot weaker by then, we could start taking back the territories they stole." He shrugged. "It will be interesting at the very least."

Veronica just shook her head. "See that's exactly what I'm talking about. You saw those followers types on the way here, right?" Geralt's mouth twitched in displeasure. "Yeah, I did. They were transporting machines far beyond their comprehension."

"Yes, Geralt. They were openly transporting high tech machines. You saw what happened when you harassed them about it?" Geralt frowned. "Yes, at least twenty people stopped if they were okay. That's why I didn't do anything." He said bitterly.

She gestured towards Geralt. "Yes Geralt, they help people and people help them in return, Geralt. I even hear that the NCR is in trouble just because they stopped associating with them." Geralt gave her a hard, but not unkind look. Then he shook his head. "We helped them often enough. Hell. We help them by keeping the technology from them. They're just too uncivilized to understand."

Veronica let out a groan of frustration. Geralt was a good man, but he was way too focussed on how things should be, instead of how they are. "Then why don't we help them? If we helped against these Legion guys….we would be allies, or at the very least not enemies. Like before the NCR declared war on us." Geralt mouth twisted in disgust. He kept his voice low, but she sensed of frustration as well. "What then Veronica? The moment we try to take something from their savage hands, the war would restart again. No. We should wait, gather our strength." Geralt let out grunt. "And when the moment is right, attack without mercy."

Her shoulders slumped in defeat. She had forgotten how many times they had discussed the whole issue. But every time she felt herself became more and more desperate.

"Gather around people gather around!" A loud voice shouted from the campfire, interrupting their conversation. "My name is Vicky, the courier. You might have heard of me!" She heard a squeal of excitement come from a group of children that rushed over. She had mostly ignored the group of people that had gathered around the fire, but she knew it wasn't as big as before.

Soldiers, caravan trader, tourist and their children were gathered around the courier. The courier herself was standing on one of the picnic tables. She had heard the story from the radio. A single woman taking out a hundred people? Ridiculous. But now as she saw her, she wasn't that sure anymore.

Armed to the teeth with machetes and too many guns that any sane person should carry gave a pretty strong presence. But that wasn't all of it. She had a presence about her.. a presence that just told you right then and there: this woman was strong. The fact she had a obvious bullet wound in forehead didn't hurt either. She moved from one end of the table to the other, shouting while doing so.

"The story from the gunnery sergeant was pretty cool huh kids?" A loud cheer bellowed out of the children. Clear innocent excitement on the faces she saw. It was then that she noticed the couriers eyes. While she acted like she was interacting with the kids, they were surveying the people around her. She saw her eyes move from soldier to soldier. Veronica couldn't help but feel she was measuring all of them. Categorizing them. "But kids I have other stories to tell! Would you want to know, let's say, how Seth Blunt saved the NCR?"

A loud "YES" followed by the children. She saw the couriers eyes move to them and locking on to Geralt, or more specifically the scar on his face. A flicker of suspicious went over her face, too fast for most people to catch. Geralt wasn't even looking in her direction. He was calmly waiting for the courier to shut up.

"But children, that so old a story. Besides your teacher will tell you the story anyway when you go to school." A groan went through the crowed of children followed by a chuckle from the adults. The courier pinched her chin. "What to do, what to do. Oh I know! The NCR against the Brotherhood of steel!" Geralt stiffened, cheer went to the crowd. "Nah, too depressing."

"Awh" Said the children.

She made a gesture with her arm. "Oh oh, I know children." She went to one knee and placed her hand as to whisper. "Pst, pst children. Do you want to hear the adult version of how the Shocker defeated the Brotherhood?" A yeah went to the crowd. "Okay okay children, but don't tell your parents. I might get in trouble."

The courier moved to the middle of the table. "Now now, where to start." She made a show of looking around. "Ah yes, bullying." She moved from one end of the table to the other again and repeated it as she talked. "The might Brotherhood of steel was once a good friend to the NCR." A sound of confusion went to the crowd, the children looked in amazement, the adults like they wanted to forget the whole thing. She was surprised that anyone telling this particularly story would actually mention it.

"The Brotherhood helped the fault dweller defeat the master." She said with a fist pump. "Then the Blunt regiment and the Brotherhood defeated the Enclave." Another fist pump. "And then the Brotherhood wanted what was ours." She said as she lowered her fist. "We worked hard, we sweat and we bled for what was ours." She said with utter conviction. "Then the Brotherhood decided we had was too much."

No…..Veronica thought in horror. There was more to this. The NCR had started producing dangerous weapons. Weapons that could threaten all life….or so logs said.

"And children, what do we say to the people that want what is ours?!" A beat. "Come and get them." The children cheered.

This was ultimately it, Veronica realized. The reason why they could never win against the NCR. Not their weapons, not their industry, but the amount of soldiers they had. She counted about thirty children. If only half joined their military, they would have fifteen new fighters in a decade or so. That was the same of amount of new recruits her chapter expected, she thought sourly.

"Exactly children." The courier continued. "So, the Brotherhood marched their entire force against the NCR. Planning to crush in the NCR in one fell swoop. Ten thousand paladins and knights in total." A beat. "President Tandi took only one action, and only one was needed."

She made a show of looking around again. "She called in the Blunt regiment." She said with glee. The children cheered as well, though she saw clear looks of disapproval in the faces of some people, some of them quietly left immediately. The courier didn't pay them any attention.

"So the Brotherhood marched on the NCR. But every step they set was met with resistance. Mines, sniper fire and hit and run attacks harassed them every step of the way." The courier said with glee. "The shocker wasn't going to allow them to attack the NCR without paying for every step they took." The children cheered.

"Then the Brotherhood finally reached the Blunt regiment!" She said with vicious glee. "Five thousand Blunt regiment soldiers versus ten thousand paladins and knights." She gave a snort. "The Brotherhood never stood a chance." The courier made a sweeping motion with her hand. "The Brotherhood was careless, when they saw the Blunt regiment they charged without thinking." She gave an almost sinister smirk. "When they were close enough the shocker activated all of the emp mines he had looted from the Enclave base." The courier gave a smile. "Of course, emp's don't kill the Brotherhood, it slows them down."

She made a show of looking around. "Tell me children, who knows what happened next."

Veronica saw Geralt shiver, just like she did. They both knew what happened next and it was the nightmare of everyone in the Brotherhood.

"They shot all of them!" One child shouted happily. "They blew them up." another. Veronica couldn't help but close her eyes. This was the Brotherhood's nightmare. But even more, this was how she imaged the Brotherhood ending if they didn't change direction.

The courier made a chiding sound. "No, no children." She said as she shook her head. "You need way too much bullets to kill someone in power armor." She said like a school teacher."And grenades do a lot of damage, but ultimately gives them too much chance at survival." She said matter of fact. "No, the best way to take care of someone is power armor is to cook them in it." And there it was.

"The shocker had long ago seen the battle with the Brotherhood coming. So he prepared. He sought lost knowledge, going through a hundred buildings, to look for something that could effectively kill a Brotherhood soldier." She gave a vicious smile. "And ultimately he finally found the answer in the magic substance called napalm." Evil you mean, Veronica thought.

"On that day the shocker uttered the words that every single one of our soldiers shout when going to war today. Tell me children, what were those words!"

"Don't thread the bear!" Everyone shouted. Veronica gritted her teeth. The courier nodded. "Yes he did. After the emp's went off he fired napalm into the Brotherhood ranks! But the Brotherhood kept charging in, arrogantly deciding that fire couldn't hurt them! But it did, and on that day they learned the meaning of don't thread the bear!" She said victoriously. She raised her hands in, and the children cheered in unison.

So that's what we are to them. Veronica thought sourly. The boogeyman that comes to steal what's theirs. She looked at Geralt that was barely keeping himself in control. And to us they're the monsters that would cook people alive in their armors. She shook her head. She refused the idea that they were doomed the be each other's enemy. She had to if she wanted save her Brotherhood.

The courier smiled as she motioned for the kids to stop cheering "Blunt". "the story doesn't end their children. If there's one thing to be said about the Brotherhood, it is that their though." The people became quiet again in expectation. "They were being cooked alive in their armor, most of them dropped dead after a couple of steps. Others though." She said ominous.

"Soldiers like Reginald Maxson and his star paladins kept charging. Kept charging through the fire and the flames. Despite being literally cooked alive in their armors. They kept charging at the Blunt regiment. Despite being bathed in napalm they found the strength." She said with earnest respect.

"They killed over five hundred Blunt regiment soldiers before they died, a testament to their willpower." She said with nothing but respect."A testament as to how dangerous they really are, and the reason why the Blunt regiment is the only force that can remove them of the face of the earth." The courier said proudly. There was a cheer, but not as big as before.

Veronica turned to Geralt, who was openly glaring at the courier. Geralt met have sensed her gaze. He turned towards her. "You really think we can ever have peace with those people." Geralt whispered in barely contained anger. She shrunk back in her seat. "No of course not." She whispered back shyly. Geralt just glared at her, his anger not disappearing.

"That's all folks!" The courier said as she walked off the table. Geralt stared daggers in the couriers back. Geralt turned back to her. He touched his chin, obviously thinking about something. "No, Veronica I think that's exactly what you need to do."

Veronica blinkt. "What!"

Geralt started back at her, clear anger in his eyes. "You always keep talking that we should make peace with the NCR and their ilk. I kept my peace, Veronica. For years now. "He said gaze was intense." I get your perspective, but it's time to put your money where your mouth is and proof your ideas."

Veronica took a hard swallow. She looked over to the courier, then back to Geralt. Geralt expected her to fail. The realisation hurt her, but it could also help her."Fine, I'll proof we can make friends if we just try, Geralt. But only if you promise to support me if I manage it." She said proud that she sticked up to Geralt.

Geralt looked unsure for a moment. Geralt might be two steps from being a exile in some circles, but in others he still had influence. Geralt carefully worked his jaw. Considering all the possibilities.

Reluctantly he said "You have a deal."

 **AN:**

 **I personally always saw the Brotherhood of steel as the spartans of the Fallout. Bad asses overall, but couldn't take any real loses. So just like the spartans it only took one big los for the Brotherhood to be crippled.**

 **The idea to use napalm against the Brotherhood….. is something I doubted for a while. Mostly because how gruesome it is.**

 **Please review!**


	19. Chapter 18: Discovery and skepticism

**First off thanks everyone that has followed and favorited, it means a lot to me.**

 **All text in [ ] is being spoken in the Language of the Divide. I will change this later on, but at this point Vicky hasn't mastered the language. I'm going for an overall more happier feel to the flashbacks, I would love to hear about what people think of the contract between the past and the present.**

 _Seven years and nine month ago, The Divide_

She calmly stood up from the bed. The tribal, Rick, was standing near her to prevent her from falling. Rick had been an almost constant presence in her time here, wherever here was. She had barely been allowed to leave her bed, let alone leave the small cave that was her room. She grabbed the chair in the room and used it to lift herself up. She had walked to the short distance of one end room to the other every time she woke up and after meals.

Today she would finally go out of this room.

"[Carefull]" Rick said worried. "molo poko ga pin." He added. In the three months since she woke up she had picked up bits of the local language, but she still had a lot to learn. She slowly let go of the chair and leaned against the cave wall. Rick gave her an encouraging look, nodding enthusiastically at her every step.

She couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm. If she didn't know better she would say he was the one getting out this room. She slowly made her way forward. She needed to regain her strength and leave as fast as possible. She didn't know what these tribals had planned for her. While Rick looked like a good guy, she couldn't say anything about of the rest of the tribe. And she knew there was a tribe from all the singing that happened. It echoed through the caves, at what she figured was night. The singing was beautiful, almost angelic, but her mind couldn't help but go to the stories of cannibalism and human sacrifices.

She set two more steps and took a deep breath. She was actually happy she had been given new clothes, since the room was as hot as a furnace. Instead of her jeans and shirt, she was wearing a rather basic skirt and a sleeveless leather vest that fit her form quite nicely. She was thankful these tribals had heard of underwear and shoes. The underwear was made of some kind of cotton, but the shoes were made of leather and string.

Rick in contrast was wearing some kind of leather armor. It was light brown, scaly instead of the smooth leather you saw outside of the Divide. It didn't hurt that it brought up his more… aesthetic qualities. She eyed him unapologetically, which made Rick blush a little. Rick quickly motioned for her to move on.

She reached the the end of the small cave. Rick just gave her a thumbs up in response. He said something that sounded like praise, which she gave a thankful smile in response.

He opened the curtain for her. She slowly limped through the door. She was in some sort of hallway. It was obviously carved out of the natural stone of the Divide.

That surprised her. The room she slept in was obviously made by hand as well. Now there was this hallway. It gave her the distinct impression these people were far beyond anything she had thought on first impression.

The cave was surprisingly well light. She looked at the top of the wall. There was a small round hole in the wall where light shone through. She looked up along the walls. There paintings of people fighting different kinds of animals. She recognized some of the animals. Deathclaws, yao guai and murlocs. But she didn't recognize other figures on the wall. At first she thought it was other humans, but on closer look she saw that the other figures were smaller, leaner and had some kind of fangs for fingers. The figures looked to be coming out of some kind of hole.

Rick stood next to her. He pointed towards the Deathclaw, "brakemow", he pointed at the yao guai, "yogi", he pointed towards the murloc "locmo". Rick started at the figures she didn't recognize for a moment. His jaw was tense as he looked at the figure. "sakk omo."

Before she could try and ask Rick what was wrong, Rick turned away from the cave painting. He motioned her further into the gave Rick a look, silently saying she wouldn't make that far. Rick response was to motion her forward with a genuine smile, the tension gone.

"You're an optimist, aren't you rick?" She said playfully, not expecting a response. Rick gave her a questioning look, then said "Y ka mo." Encouragingly. She shook her head and smiled. "Most definitely an optimist."

She limped forward, which was becoming increasingly difficult because of the pain. The cave painting continued. Sometimes it was other images of people fighting animals. Other times it was of people harvesting crops. The one that struck her most was the painting of a pitch black Deathclaw with blood red eyes. The Deathclaw was in the center of what looked like a map, surrounded by countless rivers. She gave Rick a pointed look and his only response was "Ur-Nungal". She pouted at the lack of real reaction, but she guessed it would be a bitch to explain without knowing the language.

Every so often walked past another door on their right, with a piece of cloth separating it from the hallway. She heard sounds come behind every curtain. Sometimes of children playing, sometimes of people talking, or what sounded to her as bickering.

After fiveteen minutes they walked past another curtain, grunting coming from behind the curtain. She looked over her shoulder. Rick's face was crimson red, obvious awkwardness on his face, along with an uncomfortable smile. She let out a chuckle that hurt her ribs. Rick gave her a resentful glare, but a smile soon replaced it.

They eventually reached a door that went left. She went through it to find herself atop of a staircase in the open. She blinked a couple of times. From here she could clearly see some sort of courtyard at the foot of the stairs.

Above them was a clear opening, there were sandstorms above them. She saw several staircases like the one she was standing one. All of the staircases were hacked out of the stone. On the courtyard itself were several people, tending to the small patch of crops that was being grown in the courtyard.

Rick stood next to her, an obvious giddiness to him. He waved his hand over the courtyard, the stairs and the people. "[Dusk Raiders]" he said obvious pride in his voice. He glanced at her and smiled. He motioned for the stairs.

Rick moved a couple of steps down the staircase, then motioned for her to do as well. The descend of the staircase went slow. There wasn't anything to lean on except the wall, so she couldn't grab anything if she fell. She saw Rick give her worried looks every so often. Everytime she gave him, what she hoped was a reassuring look.

She was breathing heavily by the time they reached the foot of the staircase. Rick gave her a full out grin as she looked at him. "o ke [good]." Said Rick. The scratchy tongue made it difficult to understand the meaning of most sentences, but he meaning was more than clear now. She gave him a thankful smile in response.

Rick waved his hand around the courtyard. "Pla ka mhome." he said with obvious pride. She smiled, she could understand being proud of your home. She looked the courtyard over again. A man was approaching them. He was big, for a second she thought he was a super mutant. The man quickly reached them.

She blinked a couple of times. She compared the man and Rick. They were almost identical. But there were a couple of significant difference though. The man's face had a lot of wear and tear. Rick's jaw was a little softer, the man's hair was a little greasier, and there were tints of grey in the man his hair. The man wore the same kind of armor as Rick did, but the his armor was of a darker shade of brown. It also looked a little thicker. Rick did a small bow with his head. "Foka." He motioned towards her. "Ka to Mallery."

The man, which she guessed to be Rick's father, gave her a murderous stare. They locked eyes for a moment and she flinched away by the sheer intensity of it.

Rick's father started shouting angrily, pointing at her while. She couldn't follow much of the conversation, she gathered he wasn't happy with her being here. The shouted at each other for a couple of minutes, which ended with Rick angrily turning away. He walked up to her and picked her up. "Oi" she squealed. Rick ignored her and started climbing the stairs, giving angry looks over his shoulder.

She looked Rick in eyes, there was clear anger in them. It softened a little when they locked eyes. "souu." he said apologetically. She gave a comforting smile. "Hey, don't worry about it. My dad's a dick too." She said sympathetically. Rick obvious didn't understand her, but he gave a nod of thanks anyway.

 _188 trading post, present_

"So let me get this straight." She said with obvious skepticism. "You, a Brotherhood scribe. Want to join me, the person that just glorified the death of ten thousands Brotherhood soldiers." She waited a beat. "Just to proof to a another Brotherhood scribe, that obvious has been on the bad side of a flamethrower, that you can work together with the outside world?" She said with obvious disbelief.

The scribe, Veronica gave her a nod along with a awkward smile. "That the just of it." The scribe said nervously. The scribe had approached her after her story, asking if they could talk. She had seen Veronica and her partner at the table. Veronica's partner was a dead giveaway that they were Brotherhood since it was unlikely anyone besides someone from the Brotherhood would survive an attack with a flamethrower.

She blinked a couple of times, thinking over the situation. The sheer bizarreness of the situation set her mind to a flurry of thoughts, that made the bullet wound on her forehead itch. The Brotherhood… wanting to… talk… The thought alone was mind boggling. Hell! Sentient Deathclaws would be less bizarre.

She pinched her nose.

No…. not the Brotherhood, a scribe of the Brotherhood. She was so used to seeing the Brotherhood as a single entity. A great single force of selfishness. She looked at the scribe in the eyes, they locked eyes, which made the scribe flinch away.

"Why… Why do you want to work together with me? Or better yet why would you want the Brotherhood to work with the outside world?" She said with accusation. The scribe looked up, her soft gaze met her suspicious stare. "The Brotherhood isn't going to survive on it's own. The Blunt's taught us that lesson time and time again." She said with a tint of resentment. "The Blunt's have….or had the full support of the NCR. They had weaker armor, less men and ...maybe less discipline. But they beat us every time." The scribe let out a breath. Her voice hardened. "My own parent's died because we thought… we thought we could hold the factories near Lost Hills. Now their dead."

The scribe took a shaky breath. "I lost my parents to stubbornness, I don't want to lose the rest of my family because of it." Veronica said with exhaustion.

 _her family….._ The words resonated with her on so many levels. Her family of the Divide, her people of the Divide and her family of the regiment. She placed her hand on her chin. Just wanting to protect her family… It was such a pure thing. So far removed from the selfishness of the Brotherhood.

Her every instinct as Blunt. Everything she had been thought as a Victoria Blunt, said only one thing: Kill the grinded her teeth. The Brotherhood was the enemy, plain and simple. But looking Veronica in the eyes…. Veronica obviously knew the Brotherhood would fall, sooner or later. She thought about her own feelings. The misery of missing a whole kingdom of people. People she had sworn to protect. People she had failed.

She bit her lip. No one should have to feel the feeling of losing your family. It may even be worse for Veronica, since she saw the danger coming, but couldn't stop it from happening. But what could she do? She was the granddaughter of the very person that put them in this situation. "What exactly do you expect from traveling with me? I don't know how long I'll stay in the Mojave , but it isn't going to be that long." She gave an apologetic look. "Even if I was staying in the Mojave for a long time, I wouldn't know how to help you."

Veronica looked up "I'm not sure myself… but if I even got one little thing out this."Veronica's voice light up." One little thing that proves that working with the outside is a good thing, I would be overjoyed." She said with tone desperation. "If I proof that, it will get Geralt, the man with the burn scars, on my side. If I have him…. " She gave a hesitant, hopeful smile. "I might be able to convince the rest of the Brotherhood."

She gave Veronica a dubious look, then shook her head. "Veronica, what will you do when the NCR decides to capture another installation with advanced technologie? Will you attack like the Brotherhood did in the past? If so, you're not going to change anything." She challenged.

Veronica looked unsure for a moment. Glancing to her right and left, then looking back at her. "I would try and convince the elder that attacking would be fruitless. We already know the Blunt regiment still defends the NCR, or at the very least from us… I would…..suggest.. making an alliance with the NCR. Maybe something like the Blunt regiment had before they moved to Baja." Veronica said with shaky confidence.

Vicky's face twisted into disbelieve for a moment. An alliance between the NCR and the Brotherhood? Impossible. There was so much bad blood between them, no one in the NCR would advocate that idea and expect to have a career in politics. Unless it was a one sided alliance of course, but the Brotherhood wouldn't accept that.

A thought occurred that made her veins go cold.

How longer she thought about how more dread she felt in her veins. If… if… the Brotherhood would accept concessions, with hard work and a group of politicians with enough vision to see the possibilities of absorbing the Brotherhood. She sneered, the Brotherhood could replace the Blunt regiment.

It wouldn't be in one go of course. It would go gradually. One step at the time, piece by piece, the Brotherhood would be absorbed by the NCR. If that happened the NCR would be unstoppable. The Brotherhood would be dependant on the NCR resources, the NCR would ensure the new soldiers trained by the Brotherhood would be loyal the NCR. One could only imagine the weapons the Brotherhood could invent with enough resources.

And in all that her family be just a distant memory. The politicians would discourage the spread of tales from the Blunt regiment. With time, they would become a footnote in the history books, nothing more.

The thought made her sick.

The only thing that could make that a reality though, were people like Veronica. Maybe she was the only one in the whole Brotherhood. Maybe Veronica would change her mind about working together with the outside world. Maybe there were wasn't anyone in the NCR who would have the vision. Maybe if there was someone that did have the vision, wouldn't be able to get the support. Maybe her family had enough pull to block this unholy alliance.

But she would be dead before she would risk her family's legacy on a maybe. Her family was the rightful head of the NCR military. No one else was worthy.

Veronica gave her a worried look, probably because of the sneer on her face. "Uhm, Vicky, is everything okay?" No, it isn't, she thought. She considered killing Veronica, but dismissed it out of hand. She wasn't going to kill someone because the could be the potential threat to her family. Especially if the chance was so low. But the biggest disasters started with the little things. She needed to find a way to snuff this out.

She took a long deep calming breath. There were two sure ways to counter this. One was to destroy the Brotherhood altogether. But Lost hills was a fortress her grandfather failed to crack and she wasn't arrogant enough to think she could.

That meant there was only one way to counter this possibility.

"Would you consider an alliance with someone else instead?" She asked carefully. Veronica raised a suspicious eyebrow. "Who else is there? The Legion despises technologie. And there isn't anyone else who we can really ally with."

She gave a cheeky smirk. "The Blunt regiment of course. They have the political pull to keep the NCR from attacking you. Allying with the Blunt's would show the world you are willing to talk." And in the meantime the regiment could devise a plan to absorb the Brotherhood. Or in the worst case scenario, infiltrate Lost Hills. Her father would probably balk at the very idea, but her grandmother would reign him in when she saw the possibilities.

She snorted at the thought of her grandmother. Grandmother always said that men didn't have the capability to do anything besides hitting things with big sticks. And she always made sure to say that when grandfather was in earshot, starting one one of their famous shouting matches that always ended with her leaving home for a couple of hours. She repressed a shiver of disgust.

Veronica gave a sneer in response, with anger in her eyes. Veronica opened her mouth, but then closed it. Veronica worked her jaw. Obviously thinking of the possibility. Her voice held doubt "I don't see how that would work. First off, I would imagine they're even more biased against the Brotherhood. Secondly, the Blunt's, as far as I understand it are just a military regiment of an overarching government. EVEN if they went sort of rogue they still act like they're still part of the NCR if I understand all the news I hear. Besides where would we start? The last I heard the regiment was shooting anything not NCR."

Vicky gave a nod. "Correct for the most part, but the regiment has a certain level of autonomy. And as far as making contact.. " She gave a smile. "I could help you with that." She said casually. Veronica gave her a suspicious look. A realisation struck her. "Your Blunt regiment." She said agast. She gave a big grin. "Uhu, you would note that I haven't shot you yet." She said picking a cigarette out of her pocket.

Veronica gave her a hesitant look. Obvious not trusting her. But there was something else in her look. A distant hope. She stood up. "I can't decide what you do Veronica. But… what I will say is that I will probably be your one and only chance to make peace with the regiment. It might not be tomorrow, but might take ten years. But I could deliver an alliance with the regiment to the Brotherhood if you can convince them that doing so is in their best interest."

She put the cigarette in her mouth and light it. She took long breath of her cigarette. She looked in Veronica's face. There was obvious skepticism on her face. But in her eyes she saw Veronica calculating. Considering all her options.

She was dismissively. "In anycase, I heard the people I'm tracking are in Boulder City. If you want to join me, you're welcome to do so. We leave in the morning. If not, I wish you all the luck in the world convincing the NCR that an alliance is in their best interests." She turned around, putting the cigarette in her mouth and started walking. She had only set ten steps when she heard Veronica shout.

"Wait!"

 **AN:  
Vicky doesn't think small :P. **

**I've been hyping how strong the Blunt regiment is, but keep in mind this is from Vicky. A person that can't think objectively about anything concerning the regiment or her family.**

 **I am not one hundred percent happy with the second part. I have a lot of ideas surrounding the Brotherhood, but all of those plans have Veronica at the center of it, along with some other things.**

 **I know I'm going slow, but want some things to be firmly established before Vicky starts working towards the battle of hoover dam.**

 **Please review!**


	20. Chapter 19: Boulder City

_The wasteland, present_

Cassidy was kinda happy with how things were going. She looked her right. Veronica, the scribe that Vicky had introduced last night was walking next to her. In front of them Vicky and Boone were talking. She wasn't close enough to properly follow the conversation, but every so often she heard words like "legionnaires, killing and explosion". Which told her she wasn't particularly interested in the conversation. The more worrisome part was they almost sounded like they were looking forward to it.

None the less. She felt safe. She had been on edge ever since Nipton. She knew before signing up Vicky was kinda heroic. But what happened at Nipton was…. suicidal. Frankly she was amazed they survived. She would be loathed to admit it, but at some level she admired Vicky. Oh Vicky still was a self righteous bitch, but she couldn't help but respect her for charging straight into anything that she considered needed charging into, up and including legionnaires. Admittedly that also included starting shouting matches with anyone that bad mouthed the Blunt regiment, but no one was perfect, she figured.

She looked to Veronica, and chuckled. Veronica gave her a confused look. "What?" She asked perplexed. "Oh nothing" She said innocently. "I was just remembering your face when Vicky started insulting the lieutenant." She snickered.

But Vicky wasn't the only reason she felt safe. Boone joining them helped too. Now Veronica had joined as well. She couldn't help but smile to herself. They only needed a person or two and they could start a caravan. She shook her head at the idea. Vicky and Boone wouldn't want to since they had their little vendettas, and the scribe didn't look like the caravaning type.

Veronica became flustered. "Hey." Veronica said in protest. Cassidy couldn't help but laugh. She took a healthy sip of her wisky. "She let out a satisfied "agh" And offered the bottle to Veronica, who hold up her hand in refusal. "I can't help the Brotherhood doesn't have any good curses." She said light hearted.

Veronica pouted. "We do. It's just that Vicky…. is more creative than the usual knight or paladin." She chuckled. "Of course she does. She was raised by soldiers." Not that you tell from the amount of control Vicky had of her mouth. In all honestly she amazed Vicky hadn't been arrested… then again the NCR could hardly arrest people for showing them zero respect. It didn't hurt that Vicky, to her eternal grimace, was slowly but surely becoming famous.

The strange thing though was that it felt to her that the radio new vegas was doing it's best to do just that. She didn't know what to make it, and as far she could tell Vicky could neither.

"Hey Vick! Boone! You guys want a swig!?" She shouted. Vicky looked over her shoulder and shouted "No thanks!" back. "I would go for some rum though!" she added. She smiled at the mention of rum. Vicky and her held a competition last night, who could drink the most. Vicky had her rum, she had her whiskey. They both passed at one point and neither remembered who had won.

"Sorry, don't have any. "She replied."Boone?" She asked. Boone just glanced over his shoulder and nodded no in response with usual stoic face. She let her arms fall to her side.

Boone brooded too much if you asked her. She knew she shouldn't think like that, the man had just lost his wife.. and child. But nothing came from silently brooding. Vicky had similar baggage, and she didn't brood. She pouted, then again Vicky wasn't exactly acting in what any sane person would call 'sensible'. She took another jug whisky, enjoying the burning sensation on her throat.

"So Cassidy, you used to caravan trader?" Veronica asked. She nodded no in response. "I used to be."She corrected "My caravan got blasted." She said sadly. She gave a shrug. "Over five years i'll start another caravan and then. "She gave another shrug. "I'll see what lives has in store of me." Veronica nodded in understanding. "But you've been to a lots of places I assume?" Veronica asked hesitantly.

She gave a nod. "I've been in most of California plus a little extra."

Veronica gave a her an amazed look. "That's amazing." She said in admiration. "I'm pretty well traveled for a scribe. I've seen a the road to the Mojave and the Mojave itself. But before that I've only seen Lost Hills. The Brotherhood doesn't do vacation to execotic resorts." She deadpanned.

Cassidy took another swig of her wisky. "Hey, I've never seen Lost Hills, so you've got that going for you." She said trying to cheer Veronica up. Veronica gave a sad smile in response. "There isn't much to see." Veronica gave a shake of her head. "The Shocker never even tried to penetrate Lost Hills, but he did poison and burn everything of worth near it."

Cassidy grimaced as she took another sip of her whisky. "Oh… I'm sorry." She said sympathetically. To be honest up till the point that she saw Veronica's expression, she always considered what the Shocker had done,a good thing.

Veronica gave her a sad smile. "Thanks for trying." Veronica's face light up again. "But tell me about the places you've been. I heard a lot about the outside world!" Cassidy smiled. "Well okay, uhm where to start…" Veronica was quick to suggest "Vault City! I've heard a lot of things about Vault City!" She couldn't help but be endeared by Veronica's enthusiasm. "Okay okay. Where to start….." She rubbed her chin. "Well it isn't that a great of a place. My dad used to be a bartender in Vault City." She snorted. "He got a taste for whisky there. I dunno if he drinked because the city was so depressing of because something else." She waved the thought away with her hand.

Veronica gave her a sympathetic look. Veronica opened her mouth, but she took a quick swig of her whisky before she could say anything. After the drink she said "Anyway. Vault City is rich, powerful and the people have a ego that goes along with the money and power." She gave a shrug. "Or at least the citizens are." Veronica gave her a confused look. She let out a breath. "Anyone not a direct descendant of the originals settlers have to take a test, that is fucking impossible, to become a citizen. You can still live in Vault City as a non-citizen, but you better be rich or else you have to work as hard as a slave to afford just living there." She said with bitterness.

Veronica blinked in confusion. "I though the NCR was all about equality?"

Cassidy gave a bitter chuckle. "I don't know the specifics, but part of Vault City joining the NCR was that it kept it's citizen system."She gave a frown. "Of course Vault City was eager enough to give the Blunt's an open invitation to become a citizens." She said with resentment. She washed away the bitterness with another swig of whisky.

Veronica gave her a confused look. She let out a sigh. "The Blunt's were the ones that killed all the raiders around Vault City. Since then it's common knowledge the city and the Blunt's trade favors like crazy."

Veronica gave a thoughtful look. She ignored it, continuing her story."Anyway, it's a pretty place. I've traded a couple of times there." They walked in silence for a couple of minutes. The only sound being was Vicky talking about how big of a idiot Kimball was. In the corner of her eye she saw Veronica looking intensely at Vicky.

Veronica gave her a look. "How come the NCR chose an anti-Blunt president? I mean, I thought you people loved the Blunt's for killing anything that threatens the NCR?" Cassidy felt the headache beginning already. She glanced at Vicky who thank god hadn't heard the question.

"If you asked her" She said she pointed her thumb towards Vicky. "She would tell you the people are a thankless group of pricks." A beat. "Truth is, Kimball was the only great choice available. The last two presidents were good, don't get me wrong. But they weren't even close to Tandi." She let out a huff. "But Kimball looked like a champ when he announced that he was going to remove Marcus Blunt as the head of the NCR military."

Veronica wrinkled her nose. "I don't see how that's relevant." She took a snip of her whisky and then shrugged. "It's a complicated story, but you ever hear how often Marcus Blunt has been accused of war crimes?"

Veronica raised an eyebrow. "No." She gave a nod. "I figured. Marcus Blunt has been on trial for war crimes fifty-two times." She said dramatically, she signed. "Hasn't been convicted once." Veronica blanched in shock. "But… but how does that happen? I mean, if you get brought to trial that often you have to done something bad." She shared Veronica's sentiment. "From the snippets I've gathered no witnesses came forward. The Blunt's claim that the bodies that the NCR found were placed there after they were done fighting." She said skeptical.

Veronica worked her jaw, obviously in thought. "Wouldn't they be able to tell if they were mutilated post mortem? I mean with the right knowledge and equipment that would be as easy as pie." She gave Veronica a perplexed look. Veronica gave a horrified look as he realized what she just said.

Cassidy gave Veronica a hesitant smirk. "That would be a wonderful idea, if we had the knowledge and the equipment that could do that." Veronica ducked her head in shame and said "Sorry. I didn't mean to…" Cassidy waved the sorry away. "Don't worry about it, natural mistake."

Veronica looked up again, rubbing her chin. "What about witnesses. Someone had to see something." She chuckled. "That's what I thought. Some of the regiment has had to seen Marcus Blunt torture someone." She let out a sigh. "I always wondered why not a single member of the regiment came forward." She pointed towards Vicky. "Then I met her."

Veronica looked in Vicky direction. She followed Veronica gaze to Vicky's hips swaying left and right. She gave a snort. This wasn't the first time she had found Veronica staring. "So I guess we won't be talking boys then." She asked teasingly. Veronica turned towards her. Panic in her eyes. "I.. I…" Veronica looked left and right in panic. Searching for a out.

She held up her hand to silence Veronica and gave her a comforting smile. "Hey, I don't care you dig chicks." Veronica gave a hesitant smile . "I…. _._ I.. thank you." Veronica gave her a thankful smile." I'm not ashamed of being a lesbian" She gave an uncomfortable look. "It's just that the Brotherhood frowns… on same sex relationships since.. ya know, it isn't productive in the building numbers area."

She gave a comforting smile."Hey, don't worry about it. I don't care about it. Vicky doesn't either. I don't know about Boone, but if he says something me and Vicky will beat him down." Veronica gave a hesitant smile. She looked to Vicky, then bit her lip. She looked back to her. "Do you know if ya know." Veronica motioned her head towards Vicky. She gave an apologetic smile. "Sorry. Vicky digs boys." She thought about it for a moment. "I don't think it would work out in anycase, I don't think Vicky is over the death of her husband."

Veronica gave surprised look. "Husband." Veronica prompted. _Shit_. She bit her lip. "Sorry, shouldn't have said anything. I don't think Vicky likes people knowing." She said hesitantly. Veronica casted a sympathetic look towards Vicky. "I won't mention it." Veronica said. Cassidy nodded in thanks.

"Oi!" Vicky called out. "We've got people approaching. Veronica with me in the front!" Vicky ordered. She gave Vicky annoyed look. "Coming!" Veronica called back. Boone slowed down to take Veronica's place next to her. Boone arched his eyebrow at her annoyed gaze. She signed. "So, you have anything to talk about Boone?"

Boone just shrugged, along with a look that obviously said 'nope!'

 _The Divide, 7 and a half years ago_

"[Mallery!]" Rick called out. She turned around facing Rick. She gave him a smile. "[What's up?]" She asked.

In the last three month she had become quite skilled with the language. She also was allowed more freedom. She had walked most of the halls of the Dusk Raiders home. She had found hundreds of cave paintings, every single one more beautiful than the last

"[I see you have found another favorite.]" Rick said teasingly. She snorted. "[I just want to remember these paintings when I leave, Rick. They're all so beautiful. ]" She said matter of fact. She saw Rick's face switch slightly. "[Of course.]" Rick's voice held a emotion she couldn't quite place. She felt pretty good at this point, not strong enough to make the trip back to the NCR, but strong enough to walk the halls quite frequently. It was something she enjoyed. Every hall held a new painting, the next more beautiful than the previous.

Rick gave her a teasing smile. She raised an eyebrow in annoyance. She already knew what he was going to say. "[Lanna is really going to miss you're help with the weaving.]" He teased. She rolled her eyes and lightly smacked him against his chest. Rick chuckled. Ever since she was able to move she had offered to help with anything that she could. They chose weaving and she was absolutely horrible at it. The woman that she was supposed to help was kind enough, but she had the distinct feeling she rather see her leave, or at the very least stop 'helping'.

She gestured towards the wall painting. It depicted a man fighting a pitch black deathclaw, with red eyes. The man was shielding a woman from the Deathclaw. "[What is this painting about?]" She asked genuinely curious. Rick voice was tired. "[This is a painting of my father fighting Ur-Nungal.] She gave a surprised look. Rick's father, Mitchel, had made it abundantly clear he didn't want her here. And she was fine with that. She didn't plan to stay."[And the woman?]"

Rick's face light up. "[my] amola." She gave Rick a puzzled look. "[The woman that birthed me.]"

"[Ah.]" She responded. ["Where is she now?]" She asked. She hadn't talk to a lot of the people in the…. she guessed it could be called a town. The cave network that was the Dusk Raiders home was extensive. The 'courtyard' served to grow crops. Underneath there was a prober courtyard where the people gathered. There were some craftsmen down there that forged weapons, made clothes and other goods, but everything was rather basic.

Rick eyes became sad, his gaze was downcast. "[The earth mother chose to take her back.]" Rick said solemnly. She put her hand on Rick's shoulder, and gave him a sympathetic look. "[I'm sorry for you. I lost my mother as well.]" She said sympathetic. There were a lot of moment when she had rathered talk to her mother, instead of her grandmother, about things. Her grandmother was…. informative, but had absolutely no tact. Rick looked up in surprise. His mouth opened up in surprise. "[What is it?]" She asked.

Rick swallowed. His lips trembled. he started his sentence at least three times and failed. The fourth time he said "[It's hard to explain.]" He looked towards the painting. "[Everyone told… told me, mother was a great woman. That our people would miss her skills and her wisdom.]

Rick's voice became a little bitter. "[But no one…. asked me how I felt about it.]" A single tear poured from his eye, as his lip trembled. "[You're the first one to actually say you're sorry for me. Instead of sorry for our people.]" He breathed out.

She gave a sympathetic look. "[Shhh. It's okay.] She said sympathetically. Rick hugged her. "[Thank you!]" She said while he crushed her in a hug. Breathing became difficult. He was far stronger than her and he was crushing her small form. Then again, she thought, she also feel his muscled body against her own. She wrapped her arms around him. "[Hey, it okay. Let it all out.]" _but please don't crush me_.

They stood there for several minutes in silence. He wasn't hyperventilating, or crying. They just stood there hugging each other.

Footsteps in the distance disturbed the silence. They released each other. They shared a awkward look. "[Rick!]" Someone called out in a strong demanding voice. "[Yes, I'm here!]" Rick called out. A minute later a man rounded the corner. He had a thin beard on his face. A mohawk on his head. He had a puffy face, he also wore the same armor as Rick.

"[Asher]" Rick said with impatience. "[What is it?] Asher gave her a angry stare, then turned towards Rick."[Disease has broken out. At least twenty people are sick.]" Rick face became instantly pale at the words.

"[Noo…]" Rick barely above a whisper.

 _Boulder City, present_

Vicky was giddy. She had found the Khans. She was also amused by the looks of horror that Cassidy gave her, when she said that she would deal with them.

"So lieutenant, willing me to give me a chance?" She asked lieutenant Monroe who was in charge of Boulder City. The lieutenant had a unscarred face. But his eyes told her he had seen war. It had the distinct distance look of someone that had real danger. Had been almost killed a hundred times. The man had a crooked nose, crooked teeth, a almost hollow face, a thin beard and had a officers beret on his head.

She had the distinct feeling she had seen this face before. She couldn't place it, but she was sure of it.

The lieutenant gave a look over his shoulder. He followed his gaze. The courtyard of Boulder City was abandoned. In the distance she saw a couple of Khans, looking out for anyone approaching. The khans had entrenched themselves in a abandoned building near the courtyard. More importantly the had taken two NCR soldiers hostage. _The fools,_ she thought. The NCR wouldn't allow them to leave with their lives now. She didn't know, or care, why they were fighting. The only thing that mattered was that they had hurt the NCR.

She wrinkled her nose at her thoughts. She should try and avoid conflict as much as possibly, but her instinct as a Blunt told her otherwise. Her instinct told her to bring death. But her family, or rather her father and grandfather, didn't understand subtility. The advantages that could be gained from talking.

The lieutenant's voice was heavy. "You are free to commit suicide if you want." He said dismissively. "I don't care about your reputation and neither will the Khans." He let his words sink in." So that everything is clear: I won't negotiate your freedom. You will starve with the Khans. If they try and assault us, you'll be lucky. But they're as likely to cut your throat before hand." He said on a warning tone.

She gave him a sweet smile. "Fine with me." She said nonchalantly.

She stepped past Monroe, giving a wink in the process. She knew she had seen that face before but she just couldn't place it and that bothered her to no end. She calmly approached the ruins. Giving the Khans ample time to see that she didn't have the intention of fighting, but kept her weapons so they saw that she could. The khan look outs yelled something back to the abandoned building and she saw a head or two pop out of the door. When she was about ten meters away from the building when she stopt. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and waited.

She looked at one of the look outs, who gave her a shocked and fearful look. The scout quickly ran into the building. This was why she felt confident about walking into this situation. If the Khans didn't fear her before, they would now.

It took a couple of minutes, along with heads looking out of the building every once and a while for a Khan to approach her. She didn't recognize the man that approached her. He wore the standard Khan get up, along with a big mustache, but wasn't particularly memorable.

"Victoria Blunt." He stated.

She nodded. "Guilty." The man's jaw was tense, his eye held uncertainty and fear. "Jessup wants to know if you're here to talk." He said. She gave the man a node. "Lead one." She stretched her arm, motioning for the man to start walking. The man gave her a unsure look. He looked to the building and then to her.

Eventually he started walking.

The man opened the door, and went through the it. She followed him in, and was welcomed by several guns pointed at her face. She looked around, this was the point she needed to scare them. She acted out a chuckle and kept her voice light. "Owh boys, you already know guns don't kill me. So don't be silly and lower your weapons." They didn't of course. But she did see a wave of uncertainty on their faces.

"How did you survive." A man asked, in a neutral tone. A man stepped out of the shadow, she gave a small smile as she recognized Jessup. He had a haggard look. He clearly hadn't slept in a while. She looked at the other faces in the room and saw the same tiredness.

She considered how to answer for a second. The truth was that she was lucky as fucking hell. But that wouldn't help her. No, the Khans needed to fear her, and truth was rarely fear inspiring.

Her voice was firm."First you answer my question, where are the soldier you took hostage?" Jessup frowned, obviously not liking her answer. "Do you fucking think this is a q and a?" He gestured around her. "We have you surrounded, and I won't order them to fight with melee weapons this time." He said agitated.

She faked a laugh. "Do you think that will stop me, Jessup? The suit put a bullet in my head and I'm still walking." She said mockingly. She made a show of looking around. "Talking about the suit. Any chance you have him tied up somewhere?"

Anger flicker over Jessup's face. "No the son of a bitch got those NCR bitches to come after us." He gestured to the outside. "We've been stuck her for days. We're almost out of food." He said bitterly.

She gave a shrug. She had a feeling the bastard wouldn't be here. "That's a shame. I was hoping to return the favor." She said as she tapped her forehead. Jessup gritted his teeth. "So that's why you came? You want revenge." She gave a genuine chuckle. "To be honest, the suit is more of annoyance. If you have my batons, I would probably just forget about him." She said genuinely not caring about the suit.

Jessup shook his head no. She let out a disappointed sigh. Why did shit always have to be difficult…. She looked around again. She still needed to save the hostages, but that wouldn't work if he thought she was desperate.

She turned around at gripped the door handle. Everybody cocked their guns. She glanced over her shoulder. "I don't care anymore, Jessup. So either you let me go, or I let myself go." She said casually.

Jessup worked his jaw for a moment. She turned, and took two steps so she was face to face with him. "Listen Jessup. I'm thankful you have me a actual chance to survive." She gave him a vicious smile. "But as you see, I didn't need the help." She said menacingly. She gave him a hard look. "So either you let me go or we can finish what we started." She said with a faked eager smile. To be frank she wasn't sure if she could survive this situation. She was confident she could use Jessup as a meatshield for the first couple of shots, but that wouldn't work indefinitely. That plan also relied upon the fact she was fast enough to just that. Which she wasn't sure of in her current condition.

In summary, to many if's.

Jessup bit his lip. He looked over her shoulder to his men a couple of times. She just kept focused on Jessup, making sure to convey that he was her first target if something happened.

Finally he said "I have a counter proposal." YES! she screamed in her mind, but she kept face neutral. "Oh." She said disinterested. He pointed behind him. "I have two NCR prick's tied up in the back. I want to trade them in exchange for a be letting let go without any trouble." She heard gasp of disbelief come from the men behind her.

A men stepped forward next to Jessup and her. "Jessup are you fucking crazy!" The man screamed. She ignored the man, she kept her gaze focussed on Jessup. "We can't make deals with the NCR, they kill us all."His voice was angry and bitter "Remember Bitter Springs!"

Jessup head snapped towards the man. "You think I don't remember Bitter Springs you fuck!" he retorted angrily. "My parents died there remember, Frank! So fuck you very much." he pointed towards her. "She's our only chance of coming out of this shit alive. I don't give a shit about your pride." Jessup said firmly.

Jessup started him down for several minutes, then the man gave an angry huff. "Fine, Jessup. But I don't fucking get how you can trust this bitch." He pointed towards her. "You know what's she is."

"I damn well fucking who she is Frank. Fucking hell. How can't I?" Jessup said tiredly. "But at the end of the day I rather trust a fucking B " She coughed interrupting him. "Jessup turned towards her in surprise. "I'd rather not have people know who I am."

Jessup raised his eyebrow. "Why wouldn't you?" Jessup asked in surprise. She gave a shrug. "I'd rather keep a low profile. It's easier getting around that way." She also didn't want her family getting a hint that she was alive. She fully intended to return to her family. But not before she killed Octavian. Her father would drag her back to the regiment if he knew she was alive and she couldn't allow that.

Jessup shrugged. "Fine. no hair of my back." He gave a look around. "I trust everyone here can keep their traps shut?" He said in a commanding voice. A murmur of agreements went through the room.

She gave a thankful nod. "Good." She thought for a second, sensing a potential opening to gather information."Any chance you could tell me more about the suit?" Jessup gave a suspicious look. "Sure." He gave a dramatic pause. "After you get us out of this shit." He said victoriously. Despite her disappointed, she grinned in response. She placed her hand on her heart. "I am truly fucking hurt, Jessup."

Jessup gave a short. "Uhu." He pointed towards the door. "Now if you don't mind could you kindly go and get us out of this fucked situation?" She gave another grin, and turned around. She calmly walked out of the door. She walked at the easy pace to the fortifications that NCR had set up. She saw a couple of the NCR soldiers sounding the alarm. She heard the distant sound of orders being shouted and people taking firing positions.

She just calmly kept walking, even whistling while doing so. Eventually the NCR soldiers realized it was her and lowered their guard. To her disappointment the Monroe had apparently decided she wasn't going to come back and wasn't even near the fortifications. Instead she was approached by Boone who calmly walked behind the fortifications.

He stopped in front of her and asked "How did it go." In a neutral voice. She gave a shrug. "The Khans agreed to releasing the hostages if they're let go." Boone's nose wrinkled. "I wouldn't expect the lieutenant to agree with that." She gave a shrug. "If he doesn't comply i'll tell his men what he didn't agree too." She grabbed a cigarette out of her pocket and light it. "If I can't convince him, his men can." She said matter of fact.

She took a breath of her cigarette. "But I don't think it will come to that." She breathed out the smoke. "Only a particular messud up bastard would want unneeded blood shed. She gave Boone a questioning look. "What do you know about Bitter Springs. The Khans mentioned it." Boone flinched at the mentions of Bitter Springs. She raised a eyebrow. She tried to make up what Boone was thinking, but his expression was stoic again within a second, and the sunglasses didn't freaking help either.

She was just about to ask what his deal was with Bitter Springs when the lieutenant arrived. "So you're not beat up, raped or dead." He gave her a nod of respect. "I assume those Khan scum decided to surrender." She gave Boone a concerned look, but decide to save it for latter. She turned towards the lieutenant. "Nope, but if you're willing to let them go they'll release the hostages."

The lieutenant gave her a sour look. "They took two of my guys hostages, hurt a couple of others." He glanced at the buildings where the Khans were hiding. "I want them to pay." He said with resentment. Boone started at the man for a moment, then spoke. "Sir, i get what you're saying. If I were in your shoes I would probably would think the same. But frankly, you don't want that blood on your hands."

The lieutenant turned towards Boone. The man scowled when his eyes locked with Boone's beret. "I don't want want a fucking lecture from a fucking butcher!" He said as he stabbed Boone with his finger. Boone gave a guilty look. She narrowed her eyes at the lieutenant. First recon was one of the few military division not created by her family, but she still respected them.

"Oi." She said sharply. "I don't give a fuck who the hell you think you are, but Boone her is a god damn patriot. Just like you and me" She said dangerously. The lieutenant glared at her and snorted. "Bitch please, you're the Blunt regiment girl right?" She felt her eyebrow twitch. "I'm from the Blunt regiment, yes. What about it?" She said, trying not to sound offended.

He fully turned towards her now. "You ain't no goddamn patriot if you're from the Blunt regiment. You're just a goddamn mercenary, whose people stuck around until they couldn't get what they wanted!" He spit on her boots. "So you can take your goddamn patriotism and stick it up your ass!"

She lunged at him only to be stopped by Boone. "Let me Boone!" She tried kicking the bastard, but Boone shoved her out of reach.

"Vicky, for fucks sake stop fighting." Cassidy yelled. She looked in the direction of Cassidy's voice. She blinked when she saw the crowd that had gathered to look at their….. arguement. Veronica was there as well. She ignored them and started back at Monroe. "So, what it's going to be lieutenant?" She gestured towards where the Khans were. "You're going to let your soldiers die?" She said with venom.

Monroe scowled at her. "I'll take the fucking deal, just get out of my sights along with your first recon bastard." He said with venom.

"Fine." She said curtly.

She walked back towards the Khan's at a brisk pace, trying to calm herself down. She ignored the guard and walked straight through the door. The Khans gave her a look of anticipation when she entered. They looked at each other for a moment. "So?" Jessup asked hopeful.

"They will get you go." Jessup let out a breath. A wave of relief went through the group. "Nice." Jessup said thankful. "So how do we do this? Do we just walk out?" She shrugged. "I guess. I'll walk you out Boulder City, then you can answer my questions."

Jessup nodded in agreement.

Jessup gathered up the hostages and released them. Jessup's men protested, but

she insisted. The two hostages both gave her thanks before rushing out the door. She and the Khans soon followed. "So, Jessup. Mind telling me what the hell happened at Bitter Springs." Jessup gave her an incredulous look. He voice was shocked. "How in fuck's name do you not know about Bitter Springs?"

She shrugged. "I was raised in the regiment, so I didn't hear anything my family didn't want me to." She shrugged again. "For the rest, I've lived in rather isolated placed." Jessup gave her another incredulous look, but seem to accept it. He looked at the fortifications. "We'll talk when we get out of the town." She gave a nod in agreement.

They arrived in front of the fortifications. The NCR soldiers didn't raise their guns, but they did have their guard up. She looked at Monroe, who gave a bitter scowl. "You're all free to go, I suggest getting as far as possible from this place as fast as possible." He said dangerously.

Jessup just nodded at the man and walked past him.

She quickly approached Cassidy and Veronica. "I'm going to escort them out of the city, then I'll come back." Cassidy and Veronica nodded. She looked around. "Where is Boone?" They both shrugged. "He said it would be better if he wasn't around." Veronica explained. She raised a eyebrow. Why the hell would that matter?

She quickly joined the Khans. All the Khans had nervous glanced back at the city, obviously expecting some kind of ploy. "So Jessup." She started. "What the hell happened at Bitter Springs?" Jessup let out a tired sigh. "Butchery, that's what happened." The other Khans gave an uneasy look. "The NCR did what your grandfather refused to do." He said bitterly. "We camped all of our children and old people there."He said with sadness. "The fighters weren't around much. We spend most of our time carving out a place to live around Red Rock Canyon."

He spat in disgust. "There were only a couple of fighters there, just enough to keep raiders and animals outside." He paused, taking a deep breath. "The NCR attack it with full force." Her expression hardened as she realized where this story was going. "We had a escape route just in case." Jessup gave a painful expression. "But NCR first recon was positioned at the escape route."

She tensed. "They shot them all, didn't they?" She asked in horror.

Jessup gave her a sad nod in confirmation. She stopped walking. Realizing why Monroe called Boone a butcher. She felt herself becoming angry. Not the agitation she felt when people insulted her or her family. She balled her fists and gritted her teeth so hard her jaw hurt.

Jessup gave her a worried look and took a step back. "Victoria?" He asked hesitantly. Her head snapped in his direction. "All the information you have about the suit, NOW!" she bellowed out. Jessup blinked for a second, then pulled something out of his pocket. "He gave me this as insurance he wouldn't run." He gave her a golden cigarette lighter. She took it, she gave it a glance and saw the name 'Benny' inscribed into the lighter. "Anything else?" She snapped.

Jessup shook his head no.

"Good."She responded icly. She turned around, and ran towards Boulder City.

"So Cassidy, how about the Boneyard? Ever been there?" She asked.

Cassidy gave a nod. They were seated just outside of the ruins of Boulder City. She and Cassidy were sitting next to each other on a couple of rocks. Boone was silently standing vigil. Not that it was necessary with so many NCR soldiers around.

She let out a tired sigh. The NCR had what looked like a endless supply of soldiers that were ready to die for them.

"Oh, yeah." Cassidy responded with a smile. "It's one of the best places to travel. Nice people all allround, not that much danger and you could easily sell your stuff there too." Cassidy said happily. "Only reason I didn't go there more often was that I wanted to visit more places."

She smiled in response. "The followers of the apocalypse are from there , aren't they?" Cassidy nodded. "Those are the nice people I talked about." She made a humming sound. "What are they like? I mean you hear so many stories." A beat. "I mean I've seen them before, but never got the chance to talk to them."

"Oh well, not much to say really. They just help anyone that ask for it." Cassidy made a clicking sound. "Most people think their pacifist's, but they just prefer not to use violence."

She gave an amazed look. "How do they help then?" Cassidy gave her a incredulous. Cassidy talked like it was common knowledge. "Well for one, they heal everyone they meet. They only ask for enough caps to cover their costs. They will also teach you things if you ask them." Cassidy gave a small smile "That how I learned to read and write." Cassidy said casually.

She raised her eyebrow. "Not everyone does?" She looked to Boone, wondering now if he could read and write. Then back to Cassidy. She shook her head. "Reading and writing isn't exactly what you call essential. Counting caps however, is."

Veronica stared in front of her a moment. _Such a simple thing,_ she thought. She had always assumed everyone just knew how to read and write. Now that she thought about it, she couldn't help be sad. So much knowledge missed just because the simple skill of reading was lost. So much history lost because someone didn't know how to record it.

A idea came up in her mind. Something so simple to give, but as essential as breathing. It was one of the ways the Brotherhood could help the outside world, at almost no cost at all. The cynical part of her mind told her scribes wouldn't want to. That they would call it a waste of time. But damn it, she would try.

A angry voice yelling "BOONE!" pulled her from her thoughts. She looked in the direction of the voice. It was Vicky. She became worried as she saw Vicky's expression. She hadn't seen Vicky like this. She had seen Vicky agitated, at the 188 trading post. But this… this looked way past being agitated. She cast a worried glance at Cassidy, hoping she knew what to do. But Cassidy had the same worried expression. Cassidy looked at her. "Get ready to stop her from doing something stupid." Cassidy whispered.

She gave a unsure look. Her voice was unsure as well "Like what?" Cassidy shrugged at stood up, standing at the ready to do 'something'.

"BOONE!" Vicky screamed again. Vicky was close now. She started yelling as she approached. "Is it true?" She bellowed out in anger. Boone calmly turned face her. Vicky stopped just three steps away from Boone. Just standing there like there wasn't a particularly angry woman in front of him.

"Is what true?" Boone asked with his usual heavy voice.

"That first recon fucking slaughtered innocent children!" Vicky said with barely contained rage. Boone looked away in shame. She looked between Boone and Vicky, not really getting what the conversation was about. She looked at Cassidy who had a grimace on her face.

"It's….. not as simple as ….that…., but yes. First recon was at Bitter Springs." At Boone's word's Vicky jumped towards Boone, taking two steps before launching herself towards Boone. Vicky flew through the air. She crashed into Boone with her full weight and her hands around his throat. They landed on the ground, with Vicky strangling him.

She just stood there staring in shock as Vicky tried to strangle Boone. She blinked. Boone wasn't even trying to stop it from happening. He just lay there, silently staring at Vicky in his usual stoic expression, his only reaction was making choking sounds. A hand on her shoulder snapped her out of it. She look up to Cassidy who yelled "Help me!"

Cassidy ran to Vicky and started pulling Vicky off Boone, but Vicky didn't release him. It just made Vicky more determinand to choke Boone to death. She quickly jumped into action. She raced towards Vicky, and put her arm under Vicky's arm. She then brought the hand back to Vicky's neck, forcing Vicky's hand above her head. A moment later Cassidy pulled Vicky off Boone.

Boone gasped air as he grabbed his throat in relief. Vicky, determined to continue her assault brought her foot down on Boone's nut sack with a deafening crunch. Boone bellowed in pain, he desperately put his hand in front of his nut sack, to protect it from foot that came down again to stomp it a second time.

Luckily for Boone, they dragged Vicky away from him. "YOU'RE FUCKING DEAD BOONE!" Vicky screamed in thunderous rage.


	21. Chapter 20: The death of a child

**AN:Happy new year everyone**

 _The Divide, 7 years and 5 months ago_

Chloe coughed. She looked up from the makeshift cot that was set up. "[Shush, Chloe.]" Mallery said in a soothing voice. She lightly stroked the ten year old's face with her gloved hand. Chloe had gold yellow hair and the most deep blue eyes she had ever seen in her live. She twitched in annoyance at the gloves, but Michonne had insisted they were needed, along with the face mask. And she didn't have the courage to defy her.

Another cough. "[But, Mal, I wanna hear more about the land of the bear.]" Chloe said weakly. She smiled lightly, but she couldn't keep the smile up. Michonne had put her here, after she had offered her help. She expected... She expect... well not this. She felt useless. She wanted to scream every time one of Michonne's apprentices came along and said they couldn't do anything. Every time the saw more rash appear on Chloe face she wept in silence, so she wouldn't bother the other patients. She almost did scream at them when the rash started to darken.

This was hell. She was sure of it.

She put up a smile for Chloe. "[How about I sing you a song?]" Chloe let out a weak chuckle, that made her take deep long breath afterwards. She faked a hurt voice. "[Oh come on, my singing isn't that bad.]" She said with good humor.

That had almost been a month ago. Chloe's parents were hunting, and weren't expected back for another day or so. She wanted to run away at the first day. Afraid that whatever had infected the people would infect her. Then she saw Chloe's eyes. Those eyes were so afraid. So desperate to find anything to cling to. How could she run when a ten year old needed someone to cling to? How could she ever live with herself if she ran…..

So she stayed.

"[It is.]" Chloe corrected, with a weak cheeky smile. She tsked in reply. "[Ungrateful brat.]" She joked. Chloe grinned in response, it fell soon after. "[Want to me get you some water, dear?]" She asked. She was told to keep the kid hydrated at all cost. And she did. She made sure Chloe drank a cup of water every twenty minutes or so. The worrying part was that Chloe had only peed once this week. Where did the all the water go?

Chloe gave a weak nod. She went to grab a cup from the bucket besides her, but it was empty. She frowned. That was the fifth bucket today. Chloe yawned. "[I'm going to sleep, mkay?]" Chloe said. She gave a smile. "[Of course, sweetheart. I'll be there when you wake up.]" She said in a soothing tone. Chloe just nodded.

She picked up the bucket and stood up from the crunch next to Chloe's cot. She glanced around the room. It was a medium sized room. Enough for ten cots or so. There were nine other children. In the room. Their parents were quietly comforting their children.

She bit her lip. If she felt horrible, those parents must feel absolutely... . She gave a disgusted snort. There wasn't a word for how they must feel. She quickly checked the cots for the buckets of water. She grabbed four almost empty buckets as quietly as possible. The parents gave thankful nods as she grabbed the buckets. She gave them comforting smiles. Giving them encouraging words like 'It's going to be okay." Or whatever passed for it. She brushed the curtain out of the way. As she stepped out of the room she immediately saw Rick.

Rick, as one of the Dusk Raiders warriors, wasn't allowed to see the sick. Even standing outside one of the sick rooms was against their rules. It was a cruel and brutal rule. If anyone family member of the warriors was sick, they would be isolated from the families.

He was uncomfortably leaning against the wall. A sour expression on his face. He took a deep swallow. "[How is it in there?]" He asked without his usual cheer and smile. She let out a tired breath. "[Hell.]" She responded flatly. She put the buckets down and rubbed her temples.

Rick moved closer. It took only a couple of steps and they were face to face. Rick put his hands on her shoulders. They're eyes met, she saw complete utter fear in his eyes. "[You're brave for helping, Mallery.]" Ricky said encouragingly.

Despite the situation, she felt her cheeks redden a little. She swallowed, swallowing the blush away. She quickly picked up the buckets. "[Here.]" She said, as she shoved four buckets into his hands. Their hands touched for a moment. They gave each other an awkward look. She brought her hand to her mouth, and gave an awkward cough and stepped past Rick. She grabbed the last bucket and the stick of wood that she would have used to carry the rest of the buckets on the way back.

They started walking towards the well, in deafening silence. She gave the cave paintings glances on their way there. She had spend the time that Chloe was sleeping between sleep, talking with Rick and looking at wall paintings. She discovered, to her horror, that this wasn't the first time the Dusk Raiders had been hit by disease.

She glanced over her shoulder at Rick. Rick's mother was one of the many victims. His face was weary, gloomy and sullen. She wanted to cheer him up. Say anything to make him smile again. But spending a day with dying children had drained the energy out of her.

She took a deep breath, composing herself.

Her voice was desperate "[What did your father think of my idea?]" She didn't dare bring the idea to Mitchel himself. The man scared her, she barely had the courage to look him straight in the eye. Let alone ask him something.

Rick let out a tired sigh and shook his head no. Her voice was frustrated. "[Why?]" She demanded. Rick swallowed, his was voice was apologetic. "[He doesn't dare risking outsiders knowing we're weak.]"

She opened her mouth but no words came out. She stood there for a minute, trying to get how Mitchel thought. She slowly worked her mouth shut. She wanted to run to Mitchel, scream at him. Tell him he was being a idiot. Instead she said "[Okay.]" defeated.

The silence returned with a vengeance. She wanted to hold her head high, but couldn't. She walked through the hallways, her gaze downcast for the first time in her entire live. How could she? She was a coward...

They finally reached the well after several grueling minutes. She looked around, just like the hallways the well was abandoned. The people had decided it would be smart to just... keep to themselves until the disease had blow over. She couldn't blame them.

They quietly started to fill the buckets. It took several minutes to fill all the buckets, since the bottom of the well was supposedly at the 'bottom of the Divide'... or so she was told. They took a break after they were done silently sitting against a nearby wall.

They sat there for several minutes, resting. Finally she asked "[How do you deal with this all the time?]" She asked dumbfounded. "[I know this happens fucking regularly Rick The fucking paintings give it away!.]" Rick gave her a quire look. Then shrugged. "[This is our home Mallery. It might not be the best place in the world... but it's home.]" He let out a tired sigh. "[Dealing with it... is just another part of live.]"

She gave him an incredulous look. His response was to just a give a teasing smile, the first she saw the whole month. She looked away, not getting Rick. She was starting to believe you needed be insane to get the Dusk Raiders. Living in a place that almost feels designed to reject human life...

Madness.

The sound of footsteps rushing towards them pulled her out of her thoughts. Both of them didn't bother standing up. They were in the middle of the Dusk Raiders home, so there wasn't a risk of being attacked. A couple soon turned a corner. Both of them wore the same armor as Rick. _She really need to ask about that armor,_ she mused.

"[Rick.]" The man called out. The man wasn't particularly tale, he had a full beard along with long brown hair. Rick stood up. "[Simon.]" Rick said in surprise. She quietly stood up as well. She looked straight into the man's eye. It was the same deep blue as Chloe's. Her head shot to the woman. She had golden blond hair. Her throat tightened.

Chloe's parents.

The man grabbed Rick by the collar. "[Where is Chloe!]" The man screamed. "[Is she alright?!]" The woman followed up. Rick gave a swallow, giving her a desperate look for help. The couple's gaze snapped to her. "[You're the woman Rick saved.]" They stated. She gave a hesitant node. They turned to Rick again. "[What does she have to do with Chloe?]" They demanded.

Rick gave a nervous swallow, again. "[She's been keeping Chloe company.]" Rick started. He opened his mouth to continue, but the woman interrupted him. "[How is she!]" She asked frantically.

He mouth felt heavy. She couldn't lie to them. She went for something in between instead. "[She's being brave.]" She said hating herself for not being able to tell the whole truth. The woman gaze narrowed at her evasive answer, but she continued anyway. "[I've been telling her stories about my country. She... asked me to show her when she gets better.]" Both their faces held conflicting emotions.

They gave each other a look. The look communicated so much. It made her think of her own parents. "[Take us to her.]" They said in unison. She nodded immediately, but Rick interjected. "[You can't! You know the rules.]" He said with reluctance.

Simon thundered in response. "[You can go tell Mitchel all you want! We are going to see Chloe!]" Rick looked to the woman. "[Rebecca, please. You understand why the rules, please don't do this.]" Chloe's mom, Rebecca, snorted. "[You're crazy if you think we'll just stay here and not see Chloe, Rick.]" Rebecca turned towards her. "[You going to show us where she is? Or are you going to make us go through each room?]" Rebecca said in a ice cold voice.

She thought it for a moment. The way they were glaring at her... She had the feeling if she didn't answer correctly they would kill her. She glanced at Rick, who was silently pleading her not to help them. It was a simple question of who she feared more: Mitchel or two parents who had every right to see their daughter?

It wasn't a hard question all things considered.

She nodded at Rebecca and Simon. "[I'll need some help with the buckets. They're for the sick.]" She explained. Rebecca and Simon immediately gathered the buckets and stood ready to follow her. Rick stood there silently watching them. Obvious hurt on his face.

She didn't like the expression his face. It somehow felt wrong to her. She felt wrong in her gut as they silently walked towards the sick rooms. Rick's expression following her into the hallways. She glanced at the two of them. Both had a hard expression on their faces. She saw the both of them share worried glances at each other.

It took several minutes for them to reach the sick room where Chloe was. She quietly entered the room to show where Chloe was lying. When she entered the room everyone was staring with looks of horror at the same thing:

Chloe's bed

One of Michonne's apprentices was standing over Chloe just finishing a prayer. She cast a mourning full look at her and Chloe's parent as she silently covered Chloe with a blanket.

Rebecca let out a banshee scream "[NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!]" Followed by sobs of pure anguish. It was by far the most sickening sound she had ever heard. She just stared there at the little body covered by a blanket. Not knowing what do. Not knowing what to say. The only thing she could do was watch.

The cries of anguish continued. Simon roared in anger as he ran to the body and screamed "[SHE CAN"T BE DEAD!]" to the apprentice. The apprentice opened her mouth to... console... or to calm Simon. But her reaction was cut off as Simon wrapped his hands around the woman's throat and lifted him from the ground. "[MAKE HER BETTER!]" He said rage.

Someone shoved her. She felt to her knees as a figure ran past her. She went cold as she saw it was Mitchel. Mitchel moved at a speed she hadn't considered possible for a human being, let alone a man as big as him. He was on Simon instantly wrapping his arm around Simon's throat. "[Let me alone you son of a bitch!]" Simon Thundered.

Mitchel's voice was heavy. A voice that was used to being obeyed. "[When you calm down, I will allow you to bury Chloe. But for now, you need to sleep.]" They struggled for some time. Simon clawing at Mitchel's arm, but the massive arms didn't move an inch as he strangled Simon to unconsciousness.

She looked to her right. Wondering why Rebecca wasn't helping. Then she saw her face. It was hollow, like the woman's soul had been ripped out. The woman's eyes were dead as tears kept pouring out. She looked around the room. Everyone had a similar hollow look on their faces.

Something in her broke. She stood up and ran out of the room. She shoved the curtain out of the way. She needed to get away. She looked back into the room. The cries of grief rang in her ears. She should have left... She should have left when she had the chance...

She ran towards her room.

Only to find Rick there waiting for her. He had a apologetic smile on his face. "[I'm sorry about telling my father. But if the warriors get sick we will be ruined.]" He said sounding genuinely sorry. His expression became worried as he gave her an assessing look. His voice became dangerous. "[What did he do?]" He asked, sounding genuine angry.

She couldn't meet his eyes. Her voice was barely above a whisper. "[Chloe's dead.]"

Rick mouth fell open in shock. She didn't meet his eyes. She didn't have the strength. He slowly approached her. Carefully he wrapped his arm around her, like she would break if he wasn't careful. She lay her head on his shoulder not caring if she seemed weak. Silently looking for comfort. He slowly stroked her hair.

"[I'm so sorry, Mallery.]" He whispered into her ear. She snorted. "[Chloe wasn't my kid.]" Dismissing the attempted at comfort. He carefully pushed her away him, so that they could look each other in the eye. She just started at the wall instead. He carefully pulled up her chin. His eyes were sad. Sad for her.

His voice was sweet "[Doesn't mean you didn't care.]"

That did it. The tears poured from eyes. She buried her face in the crook of his shoulder. A hollow sob rocked her body. She legs became wobbly and she was relieved when Rick slowly lowered them to their knees. "[Chloe...]" She started another sob shook her body. "[Chloe was so sweet.]" Rick made a soothing humming sound in her ear, all the while he affectionately stroked her hair.

She didn't know how long they just sat there. Her sobbing and being all together pathetic. While he calmly stroked her hair. When she was done she took a deep breath, fighting to get her composure back. When she finally did, she pushed herself from Rick.

"[Better?]" He asked in a soothing voice. She took another deep breath. "[Yeah, I think so.]" She looked at Rick, the honest worry on his face. And she couldn't help herself but kiss it. A squeak of surprise escaped Rick's lips that were a far cry from 'manly'. A smile tugged at her lips. The kiss only lasted for a couple of seconds, but it felt like an eternity.

When they finally parted, it was like the world had shifted. Like the universe took a moment to look at them. Then reality came back crashing in. She lowered his gaze to his chest. "[I can't stay here.]" She whispered. A beat. "[What?]" Rick said dumbfounded.

She looked back up. "[I don't belong here, Rick!]" She snapped. "[But... but I can make you belong here]" He protested. She shook her head. "[I"m not strong enough Rick. This place isn't for me.]" She placed her hand on his chest. "[I can't handle the possibility of friends dying without me being able to do a damn thing about it, Rick]" He gave a long look. Then let out a disappointed sigh.

"[ I get it]" He finally said.

 _Boulder Cit , Present_

"Lemma at him!" She screamed with thunderous rage.

"What the fuck has gotten into you Vicky!" Cassidy screamed at her, all while she kept herself between her and Boone. "Vicky, please." Veronica pleaded. "Stop this."

All the while Boone just calmly lay there, propped up on one arm, and nursing his throat with the other. All the while he gave her a disinterested stare.

She passed from one side to another. "He killed children. Don't get you get it." She snapped. They both gave uncomfortable looks towards Boone for a moment. Cassidy gave an uncertain look."He said it was more complicated Vicky." Cassidy finally said. "Maybe it was a accident?" Boone looked away in shame. "It doesn't change what he did!" she snapped.

Cassidy was firm. "I think it does." A beat. "Think about it Vicky. You dislike everyone judging the Blunt regiment without supposed reason." She gave Cassidy a hard stare. "So how the fuck can you go around judging someone else without at least hearing them out." She said on a chastising tone.

She bared at her teeth at Cassidy, how dare she compare the two. She let out an angry huff. "Fine." She growled. "Let him explain himself." _They will let me kill him if they know the truth,_ she thought. She took a couple of dramatic steps back and sat down, with her legs crossed. She dramatically pulled out her grandfather's 10mm. "This belonged to my grandfather." She stated. "He always told me it was to kill the enemies of the NCR." She said matter of fact. She gave Boone a hard stare. "But someone that shreds it principles, will do as well." She said dangerously.

She heard Cassidy mouth the word 'hypocrite' but she ignored it. They were talking about the death of children. It was the one of the absolute evils in this world, and even her family reputation was less important than avenging dead children.

Boone wordlessly sat up, he started at her through her sunglasses. Which made it annoying to tell what he was thinking. He calmly grabbed a canister of water and drank it. Like they were discussing the weather. Meanwhile Cassidy and Veronica were standing tensely between them.

"It was a operation against the Great Khans." Boone started distantly. He shook his head. "The main force would attack from the main approach to their camp." Boone sneered. "It was going to be a literal uphill battle. We were told that the camp would be well defended by their warriors." He swallowed. "Papa Khan has a reputation for flanking maneuvers." He spit in disgust. "The rumor went around that he literally stuck swords up people's asses. So my unit was positioned at the only side entrance." He took a deep breath.

"Everything seemed to be going according to plan. Even better, it was going easy." Boone gave a bitter smile. "We didn't realize it was going so well was because we were only fighting a handful of warriors."

His next words were barely above a whisper, but filled with enough disgust for the whole Mojave. "The rest were….. woman…. old people… children…"

Boone removed his sunglasses to remove a single tear. He quickly put the sunglasses back on. She could understand that sentiment…. She despised being pitied. Pity was uselis. It didn't help anyone except make everyone feel worse. But It did convinced her that Boone wasn't the monster she perceive him to be.

He took a deep breath and let it all out. "I realized the second when people started tripping out of the camp that something was wrong." Boone's jaw hardened. "Everyone else realized it as well. We told our CO was what going on…. he told us to shoot anyway." Cassidy's mouth fell open in shock. Veronica gave a disgusted look, but didn't look that surprised.

She swallowed. So the NCR was still trying to do what he grandfather refused to do. And people thought her FAMILY were the monsters. She sneered at the thought. "Continui." She ordered.

Boone huffed. His voice sounded tired. "I refused." He told them matter of fact. "Everyone else did as well." Boone punched the ground in anger several times. "Then he threatened us. Threatened to end all our careers there and then."

She narrowed her eyes. "You didn't do it, did you?" She asked her voice not holding any of the anger she had before.

Boone shook his head. "Next came the threats to our family." Boone said distantly. "My mother back home, my girlfriend all the people from my town." He told them on a hurt tone. "He said that they might all become the victim of a unfortunate 'raiding incident' The rest were threatened the same way. All our loved ones would be hurt by us refusing to shoot a supposed group of criminal scum." He said in self disgust.

A realization struck her and she sympathized when she did. "They died anyway, didn't they?"

Boone nodded. "Yes. Not raiders….thought." Boone gave a bitter laugh. "the whole town got hit by a plague." Boone looked at the ground looking absolutely defeated. She bit her lip. She had expected a simple cold hearted soldier that followed to the letter. Instead she found another victim of war.

She slowly stood up, holstering her gun in the process. Cassidy gave her a weary look, apparently not trusting her not attack Boone just yet. She approached Boone with a calm stride. When she reached him she offered him her hand. Boone look at her hand like it was made of poison.

Eventually he took it into a strong grip and she pulled him up. She turned around after she pulled him up. She started walking away towards the camp the NCR soldiers had set up in the distance, when Cassidy scolded her. "Just like that!" Cassidy said in outrage. She turned around to give Cassidy a questioning stare. "You try to kill him, he explains what happened and you just walk away like it never happened!" She gave a shrug in response.

"I helped him back up." She deadpanned.

Cassidy gave her a tired cold stare. Cassidy opened her mouth again, but closed it again. She let out a tired sigh. "Fine." She said coldly. Cassidy started walking towards the camp as well. She looked to Veronica, who shrugged. "Don't look at me, i'm just a scribe remember?" She gave a snort in response. Veronica quickly followed Cassidy.

She looked to Boone who had gathered his stuff, and by the looks of it was waiting for her to move. "We good?" She asked. Boone's only reaction was a curt nod., which she took as a yes.

Veronica was started to become worried about their little group. To her unease, they were setting in the middle of the NCR camp. They were several benches surrounding the big fire the soldiers had made. She would have refused it wasn't for the heavenly smelling stew.

"Here you go." She NCR private Gilbert said she passed a bowl of stew to her. She gave a thankful smile. "Thank you so much for the food." She said politely. Vicky had suggested they would be eating canned food for most of the journey. She didn't mind of course, she was used to eating canned food, but nothing was better then some freshly cooked food.

Gilbert waved the thanks away. "Hey don't worry about it." She said light hearted. "It's the least we can do for you guys saving Ackerman and me."Gilbert gave a shudder. "I don't want to think what would have happened if she hadn't saved us." She said she cast a glance at Vicky. The courier was currently eating her stew in silence next to Boone. Who to her surprise, was his usual brooding self again.

She didn't get them.

A person tries to kill you and you act like nothing happens? The outside world was strange. On the opposite side of the campfire was Cassidy whom to her surprise wasn't in a foul mood. Then again, the amount of alcohol she was consuming might have something to do with that.

"Vicky did all the work." She said. "So I should really be thanking you." Gilbert gave a shrug. "A friend of Vicky's is a friend mine. So feel free to take as much as you want." Gilbert went back to the pot of stew and took a portion for herself, then took a seat next to her.

They just sat there for several minutes, Gilbert sometimes trading banter with the other soldiers. It all felt so odd to her. She had been near NCR camps before of course, but never in one. She expected them to stand up any moment and scream 'Kill the scribe'.

Eventually lieutenant Monroe entered the camp. Some of soldiers gave him inspired looks, others ignored him. Private Gilbert was one of those look at awe at the man. She didn't get it. He just looked like any other man.

"So, where are you from?" Gilbert asked out of nowhere. She had to blink the surprise away. "Uh.." She couldn't just come up and tell everyone she was a scribe. Hell, telling Vicky took her every nerve in her body and it was only sheer luck that hadn't backfired.

"I'm more or less from a hole in the ground." She half jokingly said. Gilbert chuckled. "Okay, fair enough." A beat. "How is this hole in the ground?" She asked with good humor. Veronica smiled. "Good most of the times Other times my family is a pain in the ass." Gilbert chuckled.

"Oh I know all about that." Gilbert chuckled again. "I grew up the youngest of six." Veronica's eyes widened in surprise. "Holy hell, how do you support that many?" She asked flustered. She didn't have a sense of home economics, but six children had to be absolutely impossible for any family in the wasteland.

Gilbert grinned. "My family had a farm close to the hub." Gilbert explained. "Our land was really fertile so we had it pretty good." There was a tint of sadness in her voice. "Then my mom got sick and we had to sell it." The smile returned. "We got a really good deal though." She said upbeat. "Some company paid for all the land in return for paying for all the medicine we need."

Veronica frowned. "Couldn't you go to the followers? I mean I thought they healed you for free?" Gilbert nodded yes. "The doctors are free, but you have to pay for the medicine." She shrugged. "It wasn't like my brothers and sisters were looking forward to becoming farmers. Most of us hated growing up on a farm. We wanted to see the world." Gilbert said dreamy. Veronica smiled in response. "Me too, but my family doesn't travel that much." She said upbeat.

They shared a laugh.

"Anyway, One half of the family became traders, the other half soldiers." She explained. "My brother served with the lieutenant in the Divide." Gilbert mentioned as an afterthought. Veronica's eyes widened in amazement. "Wow." She said in amazement. "I've only heard rumors about the place. Do you know which one's are true? Did your brother fight Mallery? What was she like?" She stopped a second to breath, and then realized it was dead silent around the camp.. She looked around everyone gave her strange looks, like she had asked something taboo.

She heard a grunt behind her. She looked over her shoulder to see lieutenant Monroe glaring at her. His voice was as cold as ice. "The Divide is the burial place of honored soldiers. We don't talk about it." In a cold anger he said "EVER!" He moved past her towards the pot with stew. She looked to Vicky for help, but her face was cast down in shame. She blinked. Vicky usually had an aura of absolute pride. Shame was the last thing she expected on her face.

Maybe it was the fact the NCR lost? That didn't make much sense though. Gilbert patted her leg and pointed her thumb behind her. She stood up and walked away. She immediately stood up and followed. They quickly arrived at a tent. Gilbert reached down in the tent to grab a roll of cigarettes. She offered her one but she refused with a shake of her head. "No thanks, I don't smoke."

Gilbert took a cigarette for herself and light it. "Sorry for the lieutenant." She blew out some smoke."But the Divide is a sour spot for him." She gave a thoughtful look. "For the whole NCR actually." She shrugged. "It was the first major conflict we fought and lost without the Blunt's."

She carefully nodded. "I heard… I just….. you know…I didn't.." Gilbert nodded. "Expect a hostile reaction?" She took a puff of her cigarette. "Yeah, I get it." She said with a sympathetic nod.

"My brother was luckier than most, but that doesn't mean he got away without scars." Veronica grimaced. "Did… your brother tell about it? I mean if you want to.. but I can't think of another reason why we would be away from the campfire if you didn't" She rambled.

Gilbert gave her a seductive smile. "Oh, I can think of a couple of things" She blew out some smoke. Her cheeks reddened. She look around, there was no one around. She pulled on the collar of her shirt. She hadn't been with anyone since Christine, but that didn't mean she wasn't interested. "I uh.." She stammered.

Veronica let out an undignified squeak when Gilbert kissed her.


End file.
